Your ultimate anti-aging guide
Estée Lauder Resilience Lift Firming Sculpting Face and Neck Crème, Sears
Neck in neck
The issue: This area is often overlooked but it's just as important to keep this delicate tissue soft and supple. This area is prone to lines (both vertical and horizontal) as well as sun damage and a slackening from the jaw downward due to gravity.
The fix: Make sure to apply your SPF down to your bustline. Opt for a neck-specific collagen-boosting cream for day and night to help keep the skin firm.
Our pick: Estée Lauder Resilience Lift Firming/Sculpting Face and Neck Crème, $110. Sears.
Face time
The issue: Years of sun exposure, smoking and too many cocktails can leave your skin sallow and riddled with sun spots (aka sun damage). This ultimately causes your complexion to look shabby and you'll notice it doesn’t reflect light like it used to and fine lines have started to crop up in more than the obvious places.
The fix: If you haven’t started a regime already, now’s the time. Start your day with a gentle cleanser followed by an antioxidant serum that contains vitamin C and E, polyphenols or green tea. Make sure to slather on a mineral sunscreen with at least SPF 30 for the day, then for night apply a retinol treatment and an intense moisturizing cream.
Our pick: Skin Authority Super-C Serum, $139. Murale.
Hands up
The issue: These puppies are the first to show your age — they get the most sun damage from driving and doing activities where we leave them open to the elements without any SPF, so they’ll show age spots and damage long before your face.
The fix: Apply a hand cream that contains SPF for daytime and for night exfoliate with a sugar treatment to remove flaky skin and use an intense hand moisturizer with shea or cocoa butter. If you’re prone to weak, brittle nails use a cuticle oil at night before you apply your hand cream. You can also spot-treat your hands for dark spots.
Try: L’Expérience Age Spot Lightening Care Décolletage and Hand, $60. Lise Watier.
Under the eyes
The issue: The thin skin around your eyes will often show signs of wear and tear before the rest of your face. From facial expressions like smiling (yes that’s why they call them smile lines) to squinting at the sun, it’s easy to develop crow’s feet. Though dark undereyes are partially genetics, a lack of sleep and nasal congestion can also cause the blood to pool under your eyes.
The fix: Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes, get eight hours of sleep, drink lots of water and always use a moisturizing eye cream both day and night. Thicker face creams can lead to milia under the eyes so opt for one specifically made for this area. To combat undereye darkness, try a product with vitamin K to help thicken the skin and for puffiness look for a product that contains a vasoconstrictor like caffeine.
Our pick: Anti-Dark Circle Complex, $38. Neostrata.
Body break
The issue: While you may take extra care to slather on anti-aging creams to your face, your body is often forgotten. Dryness is one of the main culprits that makes your skin look older – it contributes to dull and rough skin and makes the loss of elasticity more obvious.
The fix: Exfoliate regularly and apply a moisturizer to help plump up the look of your skin in addition to adding a sunscreen daily on any areas of exposure. Try an anti-aging body cream containing ingredients similar to your face cream. Also, don’t forget – a self-tanner can do wonders to transform the look of any problem areas.
Our pick: Prevage Body Total Transforming Anti-Aging Moisturizer, $135. The Bay.
Hair story
The issue: As we age, our hair gets drier, more brittle and thinner – not to mention damaged from all the heat styling we put our lovely locks through. And don’t forget about the greys that peek through in-between colouring.
The fix: To keep your hair’s natural luster aim for a deep conditioning treatment on the regular. When dying your locks, stick within two shades of your natural colour, but don’t be afraid to warm up your shade to match your complexion (or add highlights to help disguise greys in-between colouring). When it comes to a cut, go with your natural texture to avoid excess heat styling and keep the look soft around your face with layers.
Our pick: Time reset youth revitalizer replenishing deep treatment for porous, age-weakened hair, $28. Redken.ca.
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