The REAL image of Amy Winehouse that Madame Tussauds didn't get

Glassy-eyed, matted beehive and scabbed skin.

This is the real Amy Winehouse not captured by Madame Tussauds in their wax-brushed image of the troubled star.

In their version of the chart-topping singer, Amy is seen with bright eyes, glossy hair, and glowing skin. The artists at Madame Tussauds must be losing their touch.

Their wax version of Amy Winehouse doesn't look like she'd even know how to start burning the candle at both ends.

The remarkably fresh-faced figure was unveiled at the London waxworks yesterday to the delight of Miss Winehouse's family. No doubt they'd never seen the troubled singer looking so well.

Seen leaving her home last night with a coterie of hangers on, and with what looked like a marijuana joint in her mouth, the Rehab singer looked sweaty and dishevelled as she got into a car to take her to the studio.

It was the first time that Amy has been seen in public since it was announced that husband Blake is to serve 27 months for perverting the course of justice.

And clearly the singer is not taking the news too well.

Yesterday Amy's parents Mitch and Janis unveiled a wax figure of the troubled singer - complete with trademark beehive and sailor tattoos - at London's Madame Tussauds today.

But observers couldn't help but note the 6ft dummy was a rather flattering depiction of the 26-year-old - her scratched, red raw arms and scabby skin glossed over by sculptors.

Miss Winehouse herself didn't attend, preferring to stay at home in bed.

Her decision to lie low saved her from any unflattering comparisons with the model version of herself. And unfortunately there were plenty to be found.

First there is her complexion. Miss Winehouse, who is struggling against drug and alcohol addiction, is recovering from an unsightly skin condition which has left her face covered in sores.

Then there are her scarred arms, which bear the marks of her habit of self-harming. Her fingernails are usually blackened and grubby and her favourite ballet pumps scuffed and mysteriously bloodstained.

But the team at Madame Tussauds has created the Amy that used to be before she descended into addiction.

The model is dressed in the same glamorous outfit Miss Winehouse wore to the Brit Awards in 2007 - a thigh-skimming mini-dress accessorised with black high heels and an even blacker beehive. She was named best female solo artist that night.

Madame Tussauds believes Miss Winehouse, who stands next to models of Kylie Minogue and Michael Jackson, will be one of its most popular attractions.

The 24-year- old singer is far from starstruck at the idea.

'I thought you had to be dead almost before they made a waxwork of you,' she scoffed last week.

Because she refused to pose for the artists, a team of 20 worked from a collection of photographs. It took more than four months to build.

Yesterday, her father Mitch, who arrived with Miss Winehouse's mother Janis, said he was 'stunned' by the model.

A Madame Tussauds spokesman said: 'She's a unique talent, an international icon and our guests have been very vocal about wanting us to include her here.'

'We see ourselves as a barometer of public opinion and time and again Amy's name came up,' said Tussauds spokesman Ben Lovett.

'She has had more requests than almost any other character. It's been phenomenal.'

It took 20 sculptors and artists four and a half months to complete the work.

For one thing, Winehouse was unable to pose for Tussauds model-makers as she was in hospital.

Her tattoos, eye make-up and beehive also required particular attention.

The craftsmen first studied photos and DVDs of Winehouse's performances.

Oil-based paints were used to replicate her pale skin tone and sailor-style body art.

Her wig needed 50 per cent more hair than a typical waxwork.

'It took the best part of two months to do her hair - almost twice as long as normal,' said Mr Lovett.

'They used real, ethically sourced human hair, threaded strand by strand into her wax head with a special instrument like a needle. They still needed to add a hairpiece and support.'

In the last year alone, Winehouse has been immortalised as a ceramic figurine by sculptor Guy Portelli, in a collage by artist Charlotte Suckling and, with her imprisoned husband Blake Fielder-Civil in a best-selling print by pop artist Gerald Laing.

Last weekend, a bust of her made from potatoes and aubergines won the Lambeth Country Show vegetable sculpting competition.