Taking care of your skin might feel overwhelming, especially when you don’t know where to start. By incorporating a few simple skin care habits – moisturizing your skin, drinking water, applying sunscreen – you can build your own skin care routine, which will help you to get and maintain a healthy, glowing skin. Here are our ten commandments to help you get the most of your beauty products and feel good in your skin.

1. REMOVE YOUR MAKE UP EVERY NIGHT

Nr.1 rule for healthy skin: never sleep with your make up on! Your skin needs to breathe, repair and renew during the night and removing all trace of makeup, oil, dirt, sweat, and dead skin cells unclogs the pores and allows the skin to recover. Furthermore, when applied on a clean face, your skin care products will better perform, as their active ingredients can deeply penetrate into the skin, so you can get the full benefits of your skin care regimen.

2. EXFOLIATE

Exfoliating your face will help you eliminate dead cells and oils that can block pores. For a healthy glow, exfoliate dry or sensitive skin once a week and normal or combination skin twice a week. If you have oily or acne-prone skin you can go up to three times a week if your skin tolerates it. Use a gentle exfoliator, not too harsh or abrasive for the skin. Exfoliation can have a drying effect, so it’s important to apply a moisturizer afterwards.

3. MOISTURIZE DAILY

Daily moisturizing should be a part of any good skin care regimen. A moisturizer reduces the chance of developing extreme dryness or oiliness and creates a protective barrier for your skin, keeping it hydrated and healthy. Use a moisturizer twice a day: a light texture with SPF factor in the morning, to hydrate and protect your skin from free radicals and UV rays and a richer, more concentrated in actives one in the evening, to boost cell renewal and replace lost moisture. It’s important that the moisturizers fit your skin type.

4. PROTECT YOUR SKIN FROM THE SUN

Moderate sun exposure is vital to our overall health and wellbeing, but when we are outside, we are constantly being exposed to UV radiation. Using an SPF moisturizer or colour correcting cream in the morning will prevent skin damage and premature ageing.

5. DON’T FORGET YOUR NECK

When following a skin care routine, the neck gets often neglected, yet it is one of the first spots on our bodies to show the signs of aging. Taking care of our necks as we do with our face helps to slow down the appearance of wrinkles and loose, saggy skin. If you are not using a product specially designed for the neck and décolleté, we recommend that you apply any moisturising or anti-ageing product you use on your face to the neck.

6. DRINK WATER

Hydrating from within will help you maximize the benefits of moisturizing.  Drinking water keeps the skin cells hydrated, prevents blemishes, pimples and wrinkles and provides glow and elasticity to the skin. The recommended quantity is 2l, but you should listen to your body. And when we say water, we mean plain water or herbal tea. Your coffee, smoothie, or your gin tonic don’t count!

7. DON’T WAIT BEFORE STARTING ANTI-AGING

Anti-aging products benefit the skin in many ways, from preventing the forming of wrinkles to helping to reduce dark spots. Most of the women start using anti-aging products when they discover the first wrinkles, but the dermatologists recommend starting in the 20s, the latest in the 30s, in order to prevent skin damages and help your skin in the long run.

8. WATCH YOUR DIET

The condition of our skin reflects what we eat. The healthier you are on the inside, the more it shows on the outside. Try to avoid highly processed food, refined carbohydrates and sugars, as over time they can cause a mild inflammation in the body and aggravate skin problems such as acne. Eat fish, a great source of protein (essential for collagen and elastin production) and omega-3 fatty acids (which promote skin health and reduce inflammation), healthy carbohydrates like veggies, fruits (especially colourful, for vitamin C), beans and whole grains, nuts and seeds.

9. GET ENOUGH SLEEP

What if we told you that the best anti-wrinkle is a good night sleep? That is useless to clutter your bathroom shelves with products if your nights are short? Getting enough sleep is essential for your skin and for your overall health, as sleep is the time when your body repairs itself. During sleep the skin rebuilds its collagen and repairs damage from UV exposure, reducing wrinkles and age spots. You can allow yourself a night off, but you should average at least seven hours for skin quality.

10. TAKE CARE OF YOUR HANDS

Like our necks, our hands are one of the first spots to reveal our age – or at least the premature signs of it. Hands are exposed to wind, sun, water, cleaning products and chemicals and as a result they age faster than other areas of the body. As for your face and neck, build an anti-aging hand routine to treat any signs of aging (wrinkles and dark spots included) and protect from further damage. Apply sunscreen, exfoliate and moisturize as you do for your face. Invest in good quality creams with anti-aging ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, ceramides or retinol.

Last but not least, LOVE YOURSELF!

Nothing gives you a more glowing appearance than self-confidence and self-love. The key to a healthier and more beautiful skin is a healthy self-relationship, the ability to value yourself for who you are.