Chrissy Teigen participating in a La Mer Instagram takeover. @chrissyteigen
Chrissy Teigen participating in a La Mer Instagram takeover.@chrissyteigen

Chrissy Teigen made one beauty junkie's dreams come true yesterday by donating the remaining balance of her tuition for esthetician school so that she can become licensed in skin care. 

About a month ago, Edney Mercedes (@cruzanchoklate) set up a YouCaring crowd-funding page to raise tuition funds to attend the Academy of Nail Technology & Esthetics in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"If you have followed me on social media or my business pages, you know what my goal is," Mercedes shared on the page. "I wanted to further my skin care knowledge by getting my license in esthetics. The issue is that because of my current job, the only school that I can attend does not have financial aid and the scholarships that I have looked at, you have to already be enrolled in school and/or be half way through to even be eligible so that isn't of much help to me either."

When Mercedes received an alert yesterday that her goal had been met, she thought there must be a mistake...until she saw the note accompanying the $5,605 donation from Teigen: "I've seen this be your passion for such a long time now. So excited to see you fulfill your dream!" 

After absorbing the news of this generous gift, Mercedes took to Instagram to gush:

Something absolutely amazing happened last night. Many of you know how much I love skin care and my plans to attend esthetician school next month. Last night I posted my tuition fundraiser on twitter and something I never in my wildest dreams happened. My paypal alert went off, and as I looked at my phone, there was amount of $5605. I thought it was a glitch. I then look at my email and realized it came from my fundraiser. @chrissyteigen donated my entire tuition money for school. I have been crying all night and I cried in the office this morning as I paid my downpayment for esthetician school. I haven't been this happy in a very long time. Thank you Chrissy and thank you to everyone else who voted or rtd my link or have supported me this entire time. It means more to me than you'll ever know. 💜💜 #ixorabb #futureesthetician

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"It still feels like a dream that I'm scared to wake up from," Mercedes told MODERN. "I have been so emotional and happy for all the support I have gotten from it. Chrissy follows me on Twitter, but I never knew she ever paid attention to my Twitter or Instagram posts about my products or my skin tips. It was only after she donated that she told me that she had been watching my progress for a while. And that really meant the world to me." 

Mercedes' incredible experience just goes to show what an incredible tool social media can be in building a career in beauty. When you share your passion for beauty, you never know who will notice and what opportunities will be presented. 

It's safe to say that Teigen will be keeping an eye on Mercedes progress and rooting for her as she works towards becoming a licensed esthetician.

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