The older I get, the more “assistance” my skin seems to need to stay looking its best. I cleanse my face daily and use moisturizer in the morning and at night; but a couple of times a week, I like to “treat” my face to something a little bit extra to keep it feeling and looking younger and healthier.

Years ago when I was training to be an esthetician, performing microdermabrasion at home was unheard of. The machines used in spas and dermatology offices were far to bulky and expensive for most consumers. Luckily, those times are long gone!

People have always complimented me on my big, brown eyes, and I’ve always considered them my greatest feature – yet in the past couple years, the passing of time and the stress of life with a job and two kids has left my once vibrant peepers looking tired and sagged, the skin around them showing the beginnings of “crowe’s feet” and dark circles appearing under them. It’s amazing how the signs of aging seem to attack the eyes first and how much it can impact one’s entire face.

There’s nothing worse than having itchy armpits. My skin can be sensitive and shaving daily (especially during the “bare” months of summer) can really irritate my underarms, causing itchy bumps and ingrown hairs. Sometimes heavily perfumed deodorant can irritate it further. There’s no sense in shaving to look pretty if you have to walk around scratching your pits all day.

I wouldn’t say I have sensitive skin, but it tends to be on the dry side so I usually try to steer toward gentler skin products. While exfoliation is an important step in anyone’s skin care regimen to remove pore-clogging oil and debris, some exfoliating scrubs can leave my skin raw, seeming to cause more harm than good. That’s why I was delighted to try NIA 24 Physical Cleansing Scrub – it’s the perfect combination of strong but gentle.

Do you ever get those tiny, hard little bumps on your skin, especially in the winter, that make it feel like chicken skin? I get them on the backs of my thighs and arms and they are itchy and annoying. Well, these tiny little bumps have a name: Keratosis Pilarsis (KP) and they affect nearly half of the world’s population.

My skin tends to get very dry particularly in the cold winter months. Daily bathing seems to only exacerbate the problem, leaving my skin raw, red and sometimes even itchy. I try my best to avoid regular soap or heavily perfumed body washes and cleansers, but I’ve had a difficult time finding any that don’t still feel like they are leaving something behind on my skin.

We may not be able to stop the years from flying by, but we don’t have to completely surrender to the visible signs of aging. Wrinkles are indeed a fact of life, but with the proper treatment, you can minimize their appearance and keep skin looking deceptively younger; and who doesn’t want to look younger?

Vitamins are essential to the proper functioning of all of our body parts – including the skin. Certain vitamins have been proven to help skin look younger and preserve it’s beauty longer. Skincare product makers have long incorporated vitamins including A, B, C, D and E for their protective, regenerative and anti-aging properties.

By now it’s no beauty secret that as we age, retinol becomes a woman’s best friend and greatest weapon against wrinkles and the ravages of time. Retinol, a pure, topical form of Vitamin A, helps increase skin’s thickness and collagen production, firming and refining the complexion and restoring its vibrancy – a literal fountain of youth.