Cancer Research UK has raised £2m in just 48 hours after a viral campaign started around #nomakeupselife pictures being posted by women on social networks.

Although the charity is not behind the craze, more than 800,000 donations have been sent to Cancer Research UK by texting BEAT to 70099 to give £3. After reaching £1m in just 24 hours, buoyed by women nominating others to take the plunge, the charity has just revealed SMS giving over the past two days has brought in £2m.

The phenomenon echoes the Dare to Bear campaign created in October by Escentual asking women to get sponsored to forgo make-up for a day to raise cash for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The recent spate of images has been fuelled by the likes of celebrities Kim Marsh and Katherine Jenkins posting #nomakeupselfie pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Not to be left out, men have now started taking make-up selfies.

“Thanks to people choosing to donate to us as part of the #nomakeupselfie trend, we’ve been overwhelmed with donations and support in the past 48 hours,” said Carolan Davidge, director of communications at Cancer Research UK. “The trend isn’t something Cancer Research UK started so it’s been fantastic to see so many people getting involved and wanting to use their selfie to raise money for our life-saving research. If people would like to choose to support our work to beat cancer sooner, they can text BEAT to 70099 to donate £3 or visit www.cruk.org.”

To find out more about using mobile for charitible giving, check out our interview with Open Fundraising.