Last week, I read this quote from Beyoncé: "I remember when I started doing my hair myself — I cut bangs, and I started curling my hair and pressing it, literally, with an iron."

This got me thinking about what Beauty skeletons could be hanging in Team ELLE’s cupboards. Turns out I didn’t need to look too far…

Jenny Dickinson, Beauty Director

“My pathological fear of fake tan is deep rooted. It can be traced all the way back to a holiday to Guernsey when I was 11. Everyone else at school was venturing to sunnier climbs, so the day before we came home I Piz Buin’d it up in the hotel bathroom. I thought I’d done a pretty good job and wouldn’t admit to anyone at school that my tan wasn’t real, even though my friends kept on at me about it (must have been the yellow colour that gave it away, this was in 1989 when fake tans weren’t the sophisticated formulations they are now). I came a cropper on the first PE lesson of term, though. I put on my netball skirt to reveal a drip right down the back of my left thigh. I have never tried to DIY again – it’s St Tropez spray for me all the way.”

Carrie Gorman, Acting Web Editor

“I’ve had a few disasters – body oil as sun cream, inch-thick foundation to cover teenage skin, one lipstick to suit all six friends, shaving bikini line… at least I never over-plucked my eyebrows, though!”

Victoria Riedl, Beauty Editor

“Two words – Sun-in. And if that didn’t ruin my chestnut hair enough, I threw some lemon juice in the mix and stuck my head in the sun. Talk about adding insult to injury. I looked like I’d dipped my hair in cabbage water. So bad in fact, I was forced to cut my long, boob length hair, into a Natalie Imbruglia style pixie crop, which is another disaster altogether. I have never tried to be blonde (or boyish) again.”

Amy Lawrenson, Web Beauty Assistant

“The first time I was allowed to wear make-up was Christmas Day when I was about 13. I didn’t really know the meaning of the word subtle and chose a shimmering purple loose eyeshadow and a dark mauve lipstick. I wouldn’t have looked out of place holidaying with The Addam’s family that year!”

Susannah Edwards, Beauty Intern

“When I was three, I put red nail polish all over my eyes thinking it was ‘Mummy’s eyeshadow’. Needless to say it took A LOT of scrubbing and panicking before it was sorted!”

Leanne Bayley, Picture Researcher

“Combing pink and blue mascara through my hair, spritzing it with glitter spray then crimping it. Oh, the crimping!”

Come on now, share the shame. Comments in the box below; don’t be shy