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"A woman shouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t need a degree in molecular chemistry to browse the skin-care aisle, but between the retinol, the peptides and the hyaluronic acid, you can get pretty overwhelmed. &amp;amp;#8220;Patients are amazed to learn they need only a few products to keep skin looking pretty, clear and unlined,&amp;amp;#8221; says Ellen Marmur, M.D., chief of dermatologic and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. She and other top skin pros make those picks for you, and share their best tips, in our decade-by-decade guide to age-proof skin. &amp;amp;#8220;No matter what your skin tone is, sunscreen is a must,&amp;amp;#8221; says Sonja. &amp;amp;#8220;I use it every day.&amp;amp;#8221; How to get great skin in your 20s Right now your skin is: Pretty darn lovely, lucky girl! &amp;amp;#8220;Women in their twenties have envy-provoking skin&amp;amp;#8212;firm, smooth and radiant,&amp;amp;#8221; says NYC dermatologist Francesca Fusco, M.D. If any teeny-tiny lines seem to be emerging, you have to get really close to a mirror to see them. Breakouts are an issue mostly from your period, stress or the Pill, typically on the lower half of your face. You may also notice puffiness&amp;amp;#8212;especially around the eyes&amp;amp;#8212;from staying out late, noshing on salty bar and fast food and having a few too many cocktails. But, hey, you&amp;amp;#8217;re living life. Biggest skin agers to avoid: The sun. Yeah, we know you know that wearing a broad-spectrum, UVA- and UVB-blocking SPF 365 days a year is a must. But every single one of our experts implored us to remind you anyway. The younger you make it a habit, the better. &amp;amp;#8220;I always tell my twentysomething patients to think of what they&amp;amp;#8217;ll save not having to reverse sun damage in the future,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Marmur, author of Simple Skin Beauty. &amp;amp;#8220;It&amp;amp;#8217;s like $100 in the bank every time you apply sunscreen.&amp;amp;#8221; Smoking and boozing. &amp;amp;#8220;When you smoke, blood vessels constrict, which means your skin is not getting a flow of blood and oxygen the way it should be,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Fusco. &amp;amp;#8220;Smoking also accelerates the breakdown of collagen, so skin loses elasticity.&amp;amp;#8221; Alcohol is not your friend, either. &amp;amp;#8220;It&amp;amp;#8217;s incredibly dehydrating and makes skin look dryish and dull,&amp;amp;#8221; say aesthetician Sharo-n Ronen, owner of Skin Haven Spa Studio in Los Angeles, where she sees her fair share of party girls the morning after. (Think about it: You know how cotton-mouth-y you feel following a night of one too many? Skin cells get similarly parched.) Plus, alcohol triggers a tsunami of stress in your body, causing inflammation that results in redness and swelling. Over time, excessive drinking can lead to premature wrinkling. Proven ways to look even better: Ditch the zits. Use a cleanser with 2% glycolic or salicylic acid. If your skin&amp;amp;#8217;s very oily, reach for one with benzoyl peroxide. Just don&amp;amp;#8217;t go overboard. &amp;amp;#8220;A lot of young women think that if a little benzoyl peroxide is good, more is even better,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Fusco. &amp;amp;#8220;But applying a cleanser and a spot treatment that have it can dry out and sensitize your skin.&amp;amp;#8221; One new option Dr. Marmur is loving is Epiduo, a prescription gel that attacks the causes of acne&amp;amp;#8212;skin inflammation and clogged pores. &amp;amp;#8220;It works in a way that&amp;amp;#8217;s safe even for sensitive skin,&amp;amp;#8221; she says. Combat puffiness. Back away from processed foods, which tend to be loaded with sodium, and the salt shaker. When you need emergency morning help, try an under-eye treatment with caffeine; tap for a minute or two to increase circulation. Start anti-aging now! No need to go nuts; just apply a daily moisturizer with glycolic acid&amp;amp;#8212;it&amp;amp;#8217;s light but helps smooth any little lines. And do a weekly scrub: Skin cells refresh themselves fast now, but this speeds up the process and the glow. (Optional: eye cream.) &amp;amp;#8220;In your twenties, you have this mentality that skin will take care of itself,&amp;amp;#8221; says Jillian Wright, owner of NYC&amp;amp;#8217;s Jillian Wright Clinical Skin Spa. &amp;amp;#8220;But you will avoid a ton of problems down the line if you start treating skin with the same care you do your body.&amp;amp;#8221; Clare&amp;amp;#8217;s completely free trick for instant glow: &amp;amp;#8220;I splash on really cold water.&amp;amp;#8221; How to get great skin in your 30s Right now your skin is: Less prone to breakouts (yay!). Hormone levels have balanced out, and skin is not too oily or dry but just right&amp;amp;#8212;and radiant. You may start seeing fine lines, especially around what pros call the areas of &amp;amp;#8220;dramatic expression&amp;amp;#8221; (a.k.a. your eyes and mouth). And if you spent your teenage years baking in the sun, you might notice small brown spots. Dark under-eye circles can also emerge as skin pigment becomes darker (largely a genetic thing) and under-eye skin thins, so blood vessels show through. These minor issues aside, Dr. Marmur says, &amp;amp;#8220;a lot of women really hit their beauty stride during this decade.&amp;amp;#8221; Biggest skin agers to avoid: Tanning and smoking. If you are still lying out or lighting up&amp;amp;#8212;the two biggest agers on the planet&amp;amp;#8212;see the &amp;amp;#8220;In Your 20s&amp;amp;#8221; section and mend your ways before your skin shows major damage. Downing the wrong foods. Granted, eating right is important no matter what your age, but the breakneck pace of this decade (work, relationship, friends, kids!) can make it particularly hard to have a healthy diet. Some motivation: &amp;amp;#8220;In your thirties it can now take about twice as long&amp;amp;#8212;40 days versus 20&amp;amp;#8212;for your body to turn over cells on the skin&amp;amp;#8217;s surface and replace them with fresh ones,&amp;amp;#8221; says Beverly Hills-based dermatologist Debra Luftman, M.D., coauthor of The Beauty Prescription. &amp;amp;#8220;Foods that have saturated fats and trans fats can hinder that process.&amp;amp;#8221; Ack&amp;amp;#8212;stress! One multi-university study of chronically frazzled women whose median age was 30 found that stress causes the genes inside cells to diminish, speeding up your body&amp;amp;#8217;s deterioration. Proven ways to look even better: Use line-fighting products. Every morning, smear on moisturizer with antioxidants C or A, which help lighten spots and protect skin from sun and pollution. At night, wash with a cleanser billed as &amp;amp;#8220;gentle,&amp;amp;#8221; then smooth lines with products that contain retinols or peptides. Add an eye cream to your regimen; pros like rich ones (the moisture makes lines less pronounced) that contain caffeine, which has a lightening effect. A tip from celeb facialist Gabriela Perez of L.A.&amp;amp;#8217;s Chez Gabriela: &amp;amp;#8220;Apply eye cream from the outside of your eye in. Dragging it out from the inner corner of your eye, where skin is most delicate, can create more lines.&amp;amp;#8221; Once a week, use a scrub with small beads (they won&amp;amp;#8217;t irritate); exfoliating brightens skin and clears away old cells, so treatment creams sink in. Eat antioxidants too. It sounds a little &amp;amp;#8220;yeah, right,&amp;amp;#8221; even to doctors. &amp;amp;#8220;But I can&amp;amp;#8217;t tell you how many women have come in with pimply, rash-y, tired skin. After they change their diets to healthier options, in a few weeks they look like they&amp;amp;#8217;ve had a peel or something!&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Marmur. Excellent choices: antioxidant-rich foods such as berries, artichokes and walnuts; studies link them to less-wrinkle-prone skin. Hit the gym regularly. Experts are unanimous on this one: Exercise is one of the best stress busters (and thus wrinkle preventers) out there. &amp;amp;#8220;My skin looks young because I stay out of the sun and moisturize like crazy. I&amp;amp;#8217;m young at heart,&amp;amp;#8221; says Mak. How to get great skin in your 40s Right now your skin is: Showing signs of real character&amp;amp;#8212;smile lines and forehead creases deepen. Pores enlarge, and you may notice that your skin is drier, less luminous and less elastic. That said, Dr. Marmur sees many women who look better than ever in their forties. &amp;amp;#8220;Their faces naturally thin and elongate just enough to turn them from cute to beautiful,&amp;amp;#8221; she says. Even if you do have actual wrinkles, who cares? They are far prettier than the surgically altered alternative. &amp;amp;#8220;That stunned, overpulled look is passe!&amp;amp;#8221; says Victoria Pitts-Taylor, a sociologist and author of Surgery Junkies: Wellness and Pathology in Cosmetic Culture. &amp;amp;#8220;These days&amp;amp;#8212;even in Hollywood&amp;amp;#8212;there&amp;amp;#8217;s a more varied landscape of confident, beautiful faces.&amp;amp;#8221; Biggest skin agers to avoid: OD&amp;amp;#8217;ing on antiwrinkle products. &amp;amp;#8220;So many women have a tendency to overexfoliate and combine too many anti-aging products at once,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Fusco. &amp;amp;#8220;Instead of seeming fresh-faced, you end up with a raw, flaky look.&amp;amp;#8221; Having too much sugar in your diet. The process by which your body digests the sweet stuff also breaks down collagen, accelerating wrinkles (at this age, your body starts losing collagen faster than it can replace it). &amp;amp;#8220;I tell clients to start by just eliminating sugar from their morning coffee,&amp;amp;#8221; says aesthetician Wright. &amp;amp;#8220;It&amp;amp;#8217;s one way to consume less.&amp;amp;#8221; Proven ways to look even better: Address your one or two top concerns. &amp;amp;#8220;I see a lot of women in their forties getting overwhelmed by all the choices&amp;amp;#8212;the creams, peels, injections, etc.&amp;amp;#8212;and spending a lot of money on the wrong things,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Marmur. &amp;amp;#8220;There&amp;amp;#8217;s a freak-out factor of feeling like they need to fix every perceived flaw when they&amp;amp;#8217;d benefit more by focusing on whatever their biggest issue is: sun damage, dullness, dryness.&amp;amp;#8221; If ever there was a time to book a consultation with a dermatologist, this is it. Switch up your anti-aging cream. In general, you can stick with the same types of products you used during your thirties&amp;amp;#8212;cleanser, wrinkle-fighting moisturizer, night cream, eye cream and exfoliator. But reconsider the formulas; skin&amp;amp;#8217;s typically drier (and less glowy) due to hormonal shifts and a decrease in oil. &amp;amp;#8220;So first of all, think moisturizing,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Luftman. Experts are fans of treatments with soy (it won&amp;amp;#8217;t dry you out and is said to boost collagen production and improve skin luster). Biopeptides in products can also help by stimulating cell production, sparing skin from dullness. Opt for a serum rather than a cream&amp;amp;#8212;serums sink into the skin more quickly to do their thing. Downsize your pores. Doing an at-home microdermabrasion treatment once a month or so can help spur collagen growth and clear out pores; the cleaner they are, the smaller those suckers look. Use a primer over your moisturizer. &amp;amp;#8220;It smooths out the skin so makeup doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t sink into any little crevices and emphasize them,&amp;amp;#8221; says Dr. Marmur. Do stuff that blisses you out. Research (an inarguable lot of it, actually) shows that happy look on your face is what makes you most attractive. Bottom line: It&amp;amp;#8217;s the twinkle people zoom in on, not the wrinkles. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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