Best anti-aging skincare products for your age

20s: Create a routine

If you want a flawless complexion, creating good beauty habits is essential, and, yes, that includes not going to bed with your makeup on. So where to begin? The first step in anti-aging is prevention. Dermatologists will tell you that means slapping on sun protection with an SPF of 30 or higher, 365 days a year. If you can establish a daily routine that includes cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreen, you’ll be well on your way to everlasting beauty.

Hot new products:

Vitamin fix
Aveeno Fresh Essentials Hydrating Night Cream, $20, Aveeno.ca
Why you'll love it: This oil-free moisturizer works hard to replenish your skin’s moisture barrier as you sleep.
Star ingredients: The special blend of antioxidants, including vitamins A, C and E, nourish your skin for total protection.

Botanical booster
Clarins Daily Energizer Cream, $25, Clarins.ca
Why you'll love it: It’s a refreshing, lightweight cream that works as a great everyday makeup base.
Star ingredient: When massaged into your skin, the ginkgo biloba extract (which comes from an Asian tree) has been shown to help stimulate circulation, which could contribute to the appearance of a healthy and even complexion. Not to mention it feels amazing!

Redness reducer
NeoStrata Clarifying Lotion, $29, Neostrata.ca
Why you'll love it: Breakouts be gone! This moisturizer is ideal for fighting acne at any age.
Star ingredient: Super-powerful sodium ascorbyl phosphate calms inflammation and reduces redness. For even quicker results, try not to touch those problem spots throughout the day.

30s to 40s: Manage your skin

All right, ladies, get ready to amp up your skincare routine. Let’s face it: We all lead busy lives, and our faces are beginning to show it. Even if we’ve been taking great care of ourselves, as we get older our skin loses elasticity. Sun exposure, lack of sleep, poor diet and stress can make skin dehydrated and dull, so it’s time to show it a little TLC. Of the utmost importance: Keep it healthy and hydrated—you’ll look that much more radiant.

Hot new products:

Natural healer
Biotherm Skin-Ergetic, $58, Biotherm.ca.
Why you'll love it: This little green bottle is packed with high-tech ingredients, but it has no harsh preservatives.
Star ingredient: A mighty compound found in broccoli called sulphoraphane. This is a powerhouse antioxidant that helps protect your skin from damaging free radicals, the culprits that contribute to skin’s aging. (So that’s why our mothers told us to eat our greens!)

Plant power
Kiehl’s Rosa Arctica, $63, Kiehls.com.
Why you'll love it: Say goodbye to dry skin and a dull complexion with this super-hydrator.
Star ingredient: The active ingredient comes from a rare regenerative plant called Haberlea rhodenpensis. It helps restore your skin’s all-important moisture barrier. Because this cream is thick and rich, be sure to warm the product in your hands and press it into your skin.

Fine-line fighter
Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist 24 Day Cream, $62, Shiseido.com.
Why you'll love it: For Shiseido, the oldest cosmetics company in the world, beauty is rooted in traditional Japanese skincare. So not only are you treating your skin to an anti-aging cream, you’re tapping into this culture’s luxurious, sensual rituals.
Star ingredient: The Asian botanical mukurossi extract teams up with an amino acid to help suppress wrinkle-forming enzymes and promote the production of collagen.

50s and beyond: Hydrate!

You may have come to terms with gravitational pull, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a little improvement. And it is possible to get real results without needles and knives. If you’re looking for a modest lifting and tightening, there is a plethora of high-tech creams to tackle anything Mother Nature throws at you. Remember, you can never hydrate too much, so tweak your routine, adding serums, oils and overnight-repair masks for maximum moisture.

Hot new products:

Firming friend
Avon Anew Platinum Day Cream, $45, Avon.ca.
Why you'll love it: Take aim at less-than-fi rm skin without spending a fortune on laser treatments.
Star ingredient: This patented technology boosts the creation of paxillin (a plumping protein that gets depleted in aging skin). The result? A more defined and youthful face.

Collagen guard
Lancôme Renergie Lift Volumetry, $110, Lancome.ca.
Why you'll love it: Loss of volume is a key factor in making our faces look older. This product works to tighten skin and improve its support structure.
Star ingredients: The new buzzword? Growth factors. They’re proteins that are thought to play an important role in skin aging by acting as little messengers between cells to control tissue quality and growth. Growth factors combat aging skin’s natural breakdown of collagen and elastin.

Antioxidant magic
SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter, $155, Skinceuticals.com.
Why you'll love it: The A.G.E. stands for “advanced glycation end products.” Scientifically speaking, this cream prevents sugars—which we naturally absorb through digestion—from oxidizing and dehydrating the skin. Translation? It’s a no-nonsense approach to anti-aging, starting at the bio-molecular level.
Star ingredient: The active ingredients, like blueberry extract, hydrate and restore elasticity. In a study by L’Oréal, blueberry extract was shown to work as an antioxidant and inhibit glycation (which contributes to skin sagging and thinning).