Beauty Tips: Carefree 20s Fast Face Fixes

From antioxidant skin creams to skin lighteners and more, Shape shares beauty tips about the products that will keep you looking great.

Start using antioxidant skin serums and creams. Studies show that topically applied antioxidants like vitamins C and E and polyphenols from grapeseeds can help fight free-radical damage to the skin. While use of these power nutrients needn't be limited to the 20s, this is the age to make using antioxidant skin products (which can be applied twice daily after cleansing) a habit.

Age-defying picks:

• Lancôme Vinéfit Cool Gel Oil-Free Moisturizer ($25; lancome.com)
• Kiehl's Lycopene Facial Moisturizing Lotion ($35; 800-KIEHLS-1)
• Clarins Line Prevention Multi-Active Day Cream Protection Plus ($55; gloss.com)

Layer on a skin lightener if you have freckles or dark pigmentation. After cleansing, use a bleaching agent to keep skin even-toned. Natural botanical-based bleaching agents -- kojic acid, licorice extract and the plant extract arbutin -- are effective and mild skin lighteners. (Studies show that all help lighten hyperpigmentation spots.)

Age-defying picks:

• DDF Holistic Intensive Skin Lightener with licorice extract ($42.50; 800-443-4890)
• SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel with arbutin ($45; skinceuticals.com)
• Peter Thomas Roth Botanical Skin Brightening Gel Complex with kojic acid ($45; peterthomasroth.com)

Read on for more beauty tips that will help protect your skin during the carefree 20s.