A TEENAGE girl who dreams of stardom is cramming as many appearances under the spotlight into her school holidays as possible.

Sophie Watson, from Spennymoor, County Durham, created a media storm this week by revealing she has had semi-permanent makeup applied.

Her mother, beauty therapist Joy Watson-Carr, defended her decision to allow the 14-year-old to undergo the £1,200 beauty treatment in Closer magazine.

They have since been bombarded by newspapers and appeared on television’s GMTV yesterday.

Sophie said: “We spent a lot of time thinking about it.

“It has just defined my face, I feel confident and happy with it.”

Sophie holds 22 beauty pageant titles, is on the books of a model agency and aims to launch a pop career.

She has singing and guitar lessons while performing on the region’s pub circuit, at events for Help for Heroes’ charity and has even performed overseas.

She said: “I’m concentrating on music now, less about the pageants and modelling, and though I don’t want to be like anyone else I do admire Cheryl Cole for working hard to get where she is.”

Sophie hopes to enrol at a school in the Durham area this summer and says she will work hard to balance her pursuit of stardom with studies.

She said: “I’m going into the first year of my GCSEs so I want to get all the compulsory ones, music and textiles or art.

“I’ll probably go on to college and I have trained in nail services so if my dreams don’t happen I have a back-up.”

Mrs Watson-Carr said: “There is a fine line between being sensible and knuckling in and stifling her dreams, we try to strike a balance between the education she needs and taking opportunities when they come.”