Why we can learn more from Reuben than just make-up tips

“YOU’VE got to pull a face when applying mascara” and “eyebrows are sisters not twins” – just two of the tips I learnt from an extraordinarily talented make-up guru last Friday.

“You just blend it out so you don’t look ill. Who wants to look ill in the spring? I mean, if you want to go to hospital, go in the winter!”

Another bronze-coloured nugget of cosmetic wisdom.

But, before we go any further, it’s worth noting this wasn’t just your runof-the-mill cosmetic guru at the makeup stall in Debenhams.

No, this was 12-year-old Reuben de Maid.

And boy, did he blow the Debenhams make-up counter right out of the water.

Showing me how to make my eyes “pop” and my lips “smack”, self-taught Cardiff schoolboy Reuben took me through his daily make-up routine.

And, blinking heck, it put my 20-minute-slap-routine-at-8am right to shame.

As someone who regularly indulges in the sacred art of fake tanning – or, as my nan would say, “dolling up” – I didn’t think it was possible to feel cosmetically upstaged by a 12-yearold.

But may the sweet make-up gods forgive me, because Reuben – the sassy youngster who wouldn’t look out of place alongside the Kardashians on the red carpet – well, he’d make even the most glamorous of celebrities look like they’d just rolled out of bed.

And with his sassy and fierce (fierce in the Beyonce sense, not the ferocious sense) attitude, I’m sure Reuben wouldn’t be scared to tell them that too.

For those of you who don’t know him, Reuben stole hearts across the globe last month when he gave a powerful performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

His stunning rendition of And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going – the torch song from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls – stunned host DeGeneres and her millions of viewers.

But it was more than just his incredible singing and sassy stage presence (*clicks with attitude*) that caught people’s eye.

Reuben’s “on fleek” (which, according to the internet, is “a state of completeness and flawlessness/the quality of being perfect/the combination of fly and sleek”) appearance also made a huge impact.

“He’s a regular in the make-up shops – they all know him,” Reuben’s mother Vicki told me on Friday.

“Reuben can even look at someone and tell what foundation and what shade they’re wearing on their face.”

Vicki also told me how her son had been receiving floods of messages on social media from people asking him to do their make-up for events like school proms.

But the reaction hasn’t always been this positive.

During his debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Reuben spoke about how he had been bullied over his love of make-up in the past.

“Because I’m quite different from everyone else, people decide to be mean to me about it,” he said.

But since appearing on the show, the youngster – who has been compared to a “young Adam Lambert” – has learnt to brush it all off... literally.

Reaching for one in an array of make-up brushes during our make-up tutorial, Reuben told me: “Those people come and go. I still get the odd comment but I just brush it off.”

I couldn’t help but smile at hearing this.

The fact that a 12-year-old boy has already learnt to embrace who he is and embrace his passions so genuinely, all while blotting out the negative comments, or as Reuben would say “the haters” – well, that’s just as, if not more, amazing than his “on fleek” make-up.

I think we can take more from Reuben than just his make-up tips (although he did recommend I try a good Kat Von D foundation – shade 58, because my skin’s “a little darker” than his).

Maybe if more people had the same outgoing, sassy and carefree attitude like the one Reuben has so spectacularly adopted, the world would be a more accepting and wonderful place.

It would definitely have fewer “haters” anyway.

Spending just a short while in Reuben’s company on Friday, I couldn’t help but leave with a huge smile on my face... and a list as long as my arm of new make-up products to try.

Not only is he a future star or, as he’d have you believe, Kardashian, he’s also a great role models for people – both young and old – across the country.

He is the epitome of happiness, openness and sincerity.

And if that wasn’t enough to get you reaching for your eyeliner, well, here are just some of the other pieces of (rather quirky) advice Reuben came out with during our tutorial:

[Reaching for eyeshadow pallette] “If you haven’t got the Anastasia eyeshadow pallet – can we even be friends? I mean come on!”

[Applying lipstick] “It just gives it a pop. I mean you can never have too much pop, can you?”