Cheryl Cole used to be terrible at doing her own make-up.

The 'Fight for This Love' singer has revealed she spent her teenage years trying to master the art of elegantly-applied cosmetics and getting "bouffant" hair, but failed to get to grips with the beauty skills.

She said: "Oh God, when I was a teenager I used to watch music videos and then try to recreate the hair and make-up but it was always very disastrous. I was never very good at applying my own make-up, I'd have eyeliner smeared all over the place. But you know what's funny? I always loved big bouffant hair, even then, but because I didn't know how to get it properly, I'd tie it up in a bobble, push it back so it created a quiff, then I'd put crocodile clips underneath it. Hair by Cheryl. I loved it."

Although she loved dressing herself up, Cheryl was often quite quiet as a youngster and shied away from a lot of social situations, apart from those where she could sing and dance.

She explained: "I was quite a quiet kid. A bit shy. Ever since I was three, just get me in a frilly dress, spray my hair and put me on stage and I'm away. I don't know whether it's being fourth in line and saying, 'Look at me I can kick my leg high and do jazz hands.' I was the entertainer of the family, but I was never ever like that in everyday life. In fact I was very unconfident when I was young. In my looks, in everything. Then you go through that stage when you're turning from a young teenager into a young woman. You feel gross, your features don't fit. If I had have known what I'd have known now it would have been very different."