Meet the teenage mum who dreamt up the #nomakeup selfie campaign

The #nomakeup selfie phenomenon has already raised millions of pounds for cancer charities and shows no sign of abaiting.

But this wasn't the brainchild of a clever marketing exec of social media-savvy PR firm. No, this was the bright idea of a teenage mum.

Fiona Cunningham, 18, encouraged people to donate cash along with their selfies after actress Kim Novak kicked off the craze when she appeared bare-faced at the Oscars.

The young mum-of-one set up a Facebook page from her bedroom in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., and encouraged people to post no-makeup selfies while donating cash to Cancer Research UK.

Incredibly, just days after creating the a 'No Makeup Selfie for Cancer Awareness' page on Facebook on March 18 she received a staggering 260,000 likes from supporters across the globe.

[Thousands give money to the 'wrong' charities for their  #nomakeup selfie]
[Celebrities without make-up]

Fiona, who is studying for a degree in criminal psychology with the Open University, was flooded with selfies from around the world and she recruited 12 friends to sort through each picture and upload it to Facebook.

Just four days after launching her Facebook group, Cancer Research UK proudly announced they had received £2million in donations as a direct result of the no-makeup selfie campaign.

Fiona, who lives with her fiance Carl Cook, 26, and their one-year-old son Jenson, decided to raise awareness for the disease after losing close family members to cancer.

She said: "I read an article about Kim Novak's decision not to wear makeup at the Oscars.

"The no-makeup selfie craze really captured my imagination and I was amazed at the response from people around the world and just thought how great it would be if it could be done for charity.

"After seeing nothing similar on Facebook or Twitter, I thought there was something in it that it could raise awareness of cancer.

"Initially I was just going to try and raise awareness for breast cancer, but it just became all cancer and that is even better.

"A few of my family members have had breast cancer and unfortunately one of them didn't make it. Carl's grandma also passed away from it so therefore it is quite close to home for us.

"I set up the Facebook group and encouraged to send in their selfies with a hasthtag linking it to Cancer Research UK. I thought a few people would join in and donate money, mainly my friends, but I was shocked when the page went global.

"I¹m overwhelmed and still think I must be dreaming. I¹m just very proud and it¹s thanks to everyone that it¹s been so successful.

"So many women wear makeup and none of us really need it. The women who have done it are all so brave in a world that expects us all to wear makeup constantly."

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said: "It's brilliant it's raising somuch money. It's totally unexpected because it wasn¹t something we planned.

"The fact that people have chosen to donate to us has been quite overwhelming. Just putting out a Facebook post that says text us, the fact that people actually did take that action, has been so  overwhelming.

"It¹s great to see people getting involved."