Cheryl Cole admits that her distinctive floral tattoo cost her the equivalent of a 'small car'

Full-bottom floral design cost her "thousands of pounds"

Cheryl Cole's controversial tattoo (Instagram)

Some things we live to regret, and others we're stuck with. But while some people may think twice about splashing out on a new car or whole new wardrobe, Cheryl Cole has admitted that she did the equivalent of both at once - and that her unusual and distinctive full-bottom floral tattoo cost her the same price as a Ford Fiesta or Volkswagen Polo.

The Girls Aloud star, who was revealed to be the owner of the decorative derriere covered in red roses that appeared on tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado's Instagram page in August last year, said that the work cost her "in the thousands".

It covers both buttocks and part of her lower back, and was, she told chat show host Graham Norton, a decision made after she contracted malaria following a trip to Tanzania in 2010.

The singer, who has campaigned on behalf of Sport Relief to raise awareness for malaria, said earlier this year that the experience was the "scariest thing you could ever imagine" and that at one point she was given just 24 hours to live.

And she told Graham Norton in a pre-recorded interview this week that her recovery from the illness had prompted her to write a list of things she wanted to achieve.

"Life's too short and the tattoo was on the list," she said.

"It was in the thousands, probably the cost of a small car. He's an exceptional artist and he was worth it."

Cheryl, 30, has just begun filming for The X Factor as she returns to the ITV show. She said that while she is settling back into her UK role - which she left after three years to host the US version, before being ingloriously sacked after just two audition rounds - she is still struggling to get along with fellow panel judge Louis Walsh.

"It's a little bit frosty," she said in the interview, which will be screened on The Graham Norton Show tonight.

When asked by Norton whether things were "off" between them, she responded: "They were never on."

But, she added: "It feels like I've never been away."