QUIZ:
HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT ANTI-AGING SKIN CARE?

There's many signs of skin aging, but acne, inflammation or redness are not one of them. When we talk about skin aging, we are mostly concerned with how your skin will look in 5, 10 or 15 years.

As you fly through space and time (also known as life), your skin is coming along for the ride (at least we hope so, otherwise you're in serious trouble). Intrinsic aging are the combined effects of time on your skin. You cannot stop time. Don't bother trying.

Hyperpigmentation is most often the result of sunlight or other factors that increase the pigmentation of your skin. We all know age spots, but they are mostly caused by exposure to sunlight throughout your life.

Extrinsic aging means aging caused by factors outside your body. For example, if you party hard and smoke harder, well, we've got bad news. We're not saying you shouldn't do it, though. It's up to you. You can fight this type of aging! Skincare, lifestyle choice, sleep - all of those work.

Antioxidants fight free radicals and reduce oxidative stress. Doesn't sound like much, but it's very important for your skin.

Many vitamins are strong antioxidants, but not vitamin B5. It is used for its moisturizing properties.

As your skin ages, it gradually becomes drier - there's less sebum (skin oils) that protects your skin from drying out. So even if your skin is more on the oily side right now, it's important to start hydrating early. If your skin still ends up being oily as your grow older, consider yourself one lucky girl!

A big part of extrinsic aging (the one you can fight against, remember?) is caused by the effects of free radicals.

Elastin has 99 problems, but your skin ain't one! Wrinkles appear as your skin runs low on elastin. Also, repetitive motions like smiling and frowning gradually erode elastin fibers - that's why those types of lines cannot be repaired with skincare. The other important protein for skin is collagen.

Cleaning you skin is not directly linked to wrinkles. You should TOTALLY do it, though. As for the rest of the things - leading a healthy lifestyle sure is helpful, but it's not easy to do and we appreciate that. Everybody says eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke, but imperfections make us human, right? So it's totally up to you to decide what kind of anti-aging care is right for you. BTW, smiling less really will produce less wrinkles, but that's also the worst advice you'll ever get in your life. So don't listen to us. You should smile your ass off everyday.