Some say that aging starts in your 30s. The truth is aging starts way earlier than that -- like childhood-sunburn early. However, you may not notice visible wear-and-tear on your complexion (fine lines, dark spots and rough texture) until later on.

The good news: This decade is the perfect time to establish great skin care habits. You can prevent damage to your skin and reverse damage that's already occurred to get a jumpstart on this whole aging thing, setting yourself up to have a flawless complexion for decades to come. Here, five essential habits to adopt now for a lifetime of gorgeous skin.

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The easiest way to get amazing skin? Prevent sun damage. Think of sunscreen as your first line of defense against dark spots, fine lines and wrinkles.

Apply sunscreen on any part of your body that's exposed, especially your face, neck and chest. If you have light skin, you need sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 30. If you have dark skin, wear a sunscreen with SPF 15 or greater. Don't get hung up on whether your sunscreen is a cream, powder, lotion or spray. Pick one that's comfortable and easy to apply (read: one that you're overjoyed to apply every two hours). After all, you want a routine you can stick to day-in and day-out.

Adding antioxidants to your daily routine boosts the effectiveness of your sunscreen and helps protect against environmental threats that contribute to skin aging, like smoke, UV rays and pollution.

Enter: the Elizabeth Arden PREVAGE® Anti-Aging Daily Serum. Featuring Idebenone, a powerful antioxidant, PREVAGE® is clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, sun damage and uneven skin texture while protecting your skin from future damage, and helping it look smoother and firmer. No wonder it's a favorite of beauty experts.

Bummer: If you're in your 30s, you may be seeing pimples and fine lines at the same time. You're young enough for your hormone levels to still be relatively high, but you're old enough to be seeing the ill effects of childhood sunburns and other poor habits.

If you've been treating your acne with benzoyl peroxide products, switch to cleansers, lotions or toners with an alpha hydroxy acid or beta hydroxy acid. Unlike benzoyl peroxide, which works by killing acne bacteria, ingredients like lactic acid and salicylic acid work by chemically exfoliating skin. Not only do these acids unclog blocked pores, they exfoliate to reduce the look of fine lines and sun spots.

Even if you you're blissfully acne-free, exfoliation is crucial for all skin types, especially in your 30s. It's an easy (and inexpensive!) way to keep skin from looking flaky and dull right now, and it'll prevent wrinkles in the long run.

Exfoliators are divided into two types: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical exfoliants are grainy and use ingredients like pulverized fruit pits and nutshells or microbeads. Chemical products employ mildly irritating ingredients, like alpha hydroxy acids, to trigger skin cells to shed. Most experts prefer the chemical type because they exfoliate skin evenly and gently, keeping inflammation to a minimum. Whatever exfoliator you choose, reach for it two to three times per week to get smooth, glowy skin.