The Insider.com

Let's face it -- Nicki Minaj is almost as much known for her fabulously zany style as her chart-topping hits (you know you've made it when they start selling "Nicki" wigs at Party City before Halloween).

• January 20, 2012Two Looks, One Star
• January 20, 2012Jennifer Aniston Reveals Her Beauty Must-Haves
• January 20, 2012Last Night's Best Outfits
• January 20, 2012Harper Beckham's Wardrobe is 'Ridiculous'
• January 19, 2012Fashion Full Circle: Black & White Stripes!
• January 19, 2012The Year's Best Costumes

But the always put-together Nicki reveals some surprising beauty secrets to Elle.com -- for one, that she doesn't know how to put on eye makeup!

"I don't have the patience, my hands shake, and I mess everything up," Nicki says about the most high-maintenance part of her beauty routine -- her often dolled-up eyes. "So my makeup artist has to do my brows and lids and lashes. Everyone knows I'm a lash girl by now. When I don't have my lashes, I feel naked."

Pics: The Outrageous and Colorful Nicki Minaj

And what's her absolute must-have beauty item?

Not surprisingly, it's pink lipstick.

"I can't see myself without pink lipstick. I can go without it for a couple days, but if there was no more pink lipstick in the world, I'd be useless. Seriously," she says. "And a good white pencil for under the eye, just inside the rim. It helps you look like you're on."

Nicki and Ricky's Steamy Campaign

She also reveals a particularly painful incident that has her vowing to never keep her nails long again.

"My nails used to be, like, a mile long, with all these crazy designs on them. The reason I stopped doing that was because one time, when I was driving from New York to Atlanta, I hit my hand on something and it ripped off the nail and the skin," she recounts. "I had to pull over I was in so much pain and stay in a $50 motel where the truckers sleep. I vowed I would never get long nails again."

Click here to check out Nicki's surprisingly affordable beauty must-haves, which includes items from both her famed collaborations with M.A.C. and OPI.