Cyndi Lauper flew to Japan just to buy perfume.

The 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' hitmaker loves splashing out on fragrance and thinks nothing of travelling to different countries to buy her favourites if they are no longer available in the US.

Asked her biggest extravagance, she said: ''Perfume. Sometimes I'll go to a different country to find a fragrance that's discontinued at home. Once I went to Japan.''

The 62-year-old singer admitted she is naturally very ''grouchy'' but tries to suppress her grumpy side because she knows she should appreciate everything she has and does.

She told Grazia magazine: ''My natural inclination is to be a rat-b*****d - a grouchy old thing. You can't be a grouchy old thing. That's my lesson.

''Life is really a gift and you have to appreciate everyone around you.''

And Cyndi finds it frustrating when people expect her to be ''dim-witted'' and a joker.

She said: ''The biggest misconception about me? That I'm dim-witted. I've always been seen as a joker.''

Meanwhile, the 'True Colours' hitmaker regrets not walking out of her record deal when she was asked to change her image.

She explained: ''I regret not standing up to my record company in 1989 when an executive asked why I couldn't dress more like Katrina and the Waves.

''I should have said, 'I don't fit here any more, have a nice life.'''