Avoid quick fixes. French ladies are known for thinking of beauty as a daily thing; they don’t wait for problems to crop up and then fix them with expensive procedures. Instead, they focus on daily maintenance and prevention. However, you should use fast-acting ACNE solutions. The more you speed the healing of acne breakouts, the less likely you are to experience acne marks and scars. The Drying Lotion should be your best friend.

Use a regular skin care routine. Going willy-nilly with products and not having a set routine can lead to disaster. Maybe you’re exfoliating too often, and now your skin looks too red. Or possibly you’re using too many products with the same (powerful) active ingredient. Put together a routine (with the help of an aesthetician or other beauty expert) and stick to it. Bonus: When you have a regular skin care routine, it’s easy to make tweaks here and there and really see what makes a difference in your skin.

Stop tugging at the skin around your eyes. We know it can be hard to remove makeup sometimes, especially waterproof versions. Never try to wash makeup off with your usual facial cleanser. Makeup remover exists for a reason! Mainly because the eyes have the thinnest, driest skin around them, and it’s usually the first to show signs of aging.

Make a solemn vow never to pick, pop, or scratch at your skin—ever again.Doing so tends to make acne worse in the long run and might causing scarring.

Take the sun—and its dangers—seriously. I wish I could wear a full-size Little House On The Prairie-style bonnet to protect my skin from the sun at all times. The sun causes rapidly accelerated aging and could potentially lead to more serious skin conditions (like cancer). Load up on broad spectrum sun protection and put on a hat.

Clean your dirty makeup brushes. Do this, like, all the time, especially if you ever have acne breakouts.