Last Friday Nicola Bennett was crowned Miss Bronz’ Express in association with the Sunday World. Nicola had made the top ten finalists in the national competition which were chosen by public vote, and the grand final in Dublin last weekend announced her as the overall winner. Although she has quite some experience at this stage in modelling competitions, the Sunday World reported that “the 23-year-old was visibly shaking when her name was announced” so winning this title obviously meant a lot to her.
Nicola won the Irish Specsavers Spectacle Wearer of the Year two years ago and went on to take third place in the international contest held in London, and she was crowned Ireland’s Next Model last year in a competition held in Limerick. The hairstylist was determined to focus more on her modelling this year to make a real go at it, and she couldn’t have imagined a better start to that New Year’s resolution. I spoke to Nicola last Friday, a few hours after she had been crowned and she was truly delighted.
The judges for the final were stylist Cathy O’Connor, Brendan Scully of B*Scene model agency and Oonagh Clarke, MD of French Cosmetics. Nicola’s striking looks and friendly disposition won over the three judges with Zivile Stapulionyte also from Limerick coming a close runner up and the shapely Abby Ross came third.
It seems it was a clean sweep for the three Limerick finalists in the top ten! Lucky Nicola will get to jet to the home of Bronz’Express in the south of France to shoot the advertising campaign and will also feature in an exclusive glossy photo shoot with the Sunday World Magazine. She will be the face of popular tanning product Bronz’ Express for the next year, and we can expect to see her face in Unicare pharmacies all over the country promoting the brand.
