Lulu thinks it's "great" she was "never a beauty".
Lulu
The 68-year-old star insists she wasn't much of a looker during her younger years but wasn't bothered because she is pleased she managed to achieve her looks with her own effort, and doesn't think people need to have "good genes" to be beautiful.
She said: "It's age that has taught me how to look good. It's all about experience. You don't need to have good genes -- all you have to do is give your energy and attention to your fashion, make-up and hair, and you'll master all three.
"I think it's a great thing that I was never a beauty. When you are, you don't even notice it, your beauty is just there. When I was young, I knew girls who wouldn't even bother combing their hair, they'd simply get out of the shower and look effortlessly great."
The 'Shout' hitmaker - who has 40-year-old son Jordan Frieda with her ex-husband John Frieda - recalls having a "fat face" and looking like an "ugly duckling" when she was growing up, and she found it particularly hard when she went on holiday and her skin turned pink in the sun.
In a piece for the Daily Mail newspaper, she added: "I was a bit of an ugly duckling. I felt odd - spotty and short, with a fat face. It was not a good look! When I was a bit older, I'd go on holidays with my sisters-in-law and their daughters and see how their hair would go a pretty blonde in the sun and they'd tan easily.
"I would quickly turn pink and my red hair would go a fiery orange. Looking back, it was hard. But, over the years, I studied what worked best on me and found a look that capitalised on what I had. Sometimes I make mistakes, but not as many as I did when I was young."
The 'Boom Bang a Bang' star has been in the music industry for more than 50 years and previously insisted there is too much pressure on female singers to strip nowadays.
In 2015, she explained: "The music industry is not an easy business, never has been, and the bosses aren't rushing to sign you if you're over a certain age because it's all about young people."
She also insisted if anyone had asked her or 'Son of a Preacher Man' singer Dusty Springfield to do so during their early careers, they would have "killed ourselves laughing - then told them where to go."
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