Living in Miami has made me acutely aware of how I look, though I do believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I was younger, I had to do less to look good. Now, at 41 years old, I put much more work into my beauty routine. It’s important to recognize your unique beauty and celebrate it; part of this celebration is to take good care of yourself so you can be the best version of yourself possible.

As part of a series on the secrets to looking beautiful at any age, I’ll discuss the truth about what goes into beauty routines. Though it may seem like a lot of work—frankly, it can seem exhausting!—the efforts will pay off. It can take a village to help keep you looking and feeling your best. Start building your beauty tribe so you can look and feel like your very best you!

Secret 2: Create a Skincare Routine & Stick to It.

In the quest to hold on to the skin from my 30s, I have learned that there are a few critical steps that need to be accomplished. First, you need to find some way to exfoliate your skin regularly;  this will help with reducing wrinkles and avoiding breakouts. There are a variety of options available to you for exfoliation, from using Retin-A and Obagi nightly to manual, over-the- counter scrubs. Whatever works best for your skin type and your budget is fine, as long as you are turning dead skin cells over on the regular.

The next critical step is moisturizing your newly exfoliated skin. This is something I didn’t do when I was younger, and I regret it now. Currently, I use a hyaluronic acid to kick-start my moisture routine coupled with a Vitamin C serum and a healing oil. That all goes on before I turn to a cream moisturizer. Did I mention that this is a lot of work? But creating a skin care routine that you can stick to is one of the best secrets to looking beautiful. Trust me—it’s worth it!