Youthful bloom

If only we could all remember to stay out of the sun, swear off alcohol and tobacco, drink eight glasses of water a day, sleep 10 hours a night, and moisturise daily from the age of 18, we might still have the flawless, unlined skin we were born with.

But for most, reality paints a starkly different picture: first the dullness and fine lines, then the sun spots and sagging jowls, and finally the deep creases and extreme dryness. Thankfully, there is now a potion to treat every sign of ageing - and in many cases, all the signs at once.

The year's biggest skincare innovations combine proven elements such as antioxidants and peptides with innovative botanical extracts and the latest DNA science to prevent - and even reverse - the ravages of time.

"It used to be taught that nothing could be done about ageing skin. Now we know that, while there are some changes that occur with intrinsic ageing, much of the deterioration in our skin is due to sun damage, other environmental damage and general health issues," says Dr Brandith Irwin, dermatologist and author of The Surgery-Free Makeover: All You Need to Know for Great Skin and a Younger Face. "Increasing the number and activity of healthy skin cells help to reverse this."

To that end, skincare brands have spent years and millions of dollars trying to unlock the secrets within our skin cells.

"When you go deeper [than the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin], you have cells with a nucleus and inside the nucleus we have the DNA. This is where the genes are," says Nathalie Issachar, director of marketing development and scientific communication at Clarins.