When I was in my early 20’s, if you asked me what my skin care goals were my first answer would most likely be “getting all of my eye make-up off before bed.” Clearly I wasn’t making big plans about the future of my skin. In the last five or six years though, my skin care goals have become a bit more complex. Yes, I’m still VERY concerned about getting all my eye make-up off before bed, but I’m also thinking about more than just keeping my sheets from getting mascara stains. Keeping my skin looking youthful, avoiding dark spots as well as making sure that a bout with acne during pregnancy was just one of those nine-month hormone anomalies.

Now though, I’ve got a serious routine and a drawer full of beauty products to attest to it. And while I’m ALWAYS open to trying out new products, there are some mainstays that I come back to time and time again. One of those is the Clinique 3-step system which I’ve used on-and-off since high school (which was a dark time skin wise).

Side note: The face wash may be my favorite cleanser ever. It’s strong enough to get all your make-up off but instead of leaving your face dry, it feels clean and moisturized. It also gets really foamy which I love.

Instead of looking back though, Clinique is asking people to take a look in to the future, #FaceForward, and give themselves some advice (lord knows I’ve got advice for days for my younger self but you know she wouldn’t care about it).  When they offered the opportunity to tackle this beauty time capsule question, I was more than happy to accept (while lathering Dramatically Different Moisturizer on my face) and since Clinique is known for the 3-step system, I’ve got three tips for the older (and hopefully wiser) Danielle.

1. Keep trying new things. Don’t get old and boring. No one likes old and boring people. Try new foods, go to new places, try out new products and keep moving.

2. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I’m guessing older you has no idea that current you is stressed about your work schedule, the amount of laundry still not finished and whether or not the house is organized.If you won’t remember it in a few years, it’s probably not worth worrying about.

3.  Say yes to having fun. Keep making time for the fun things in life cause if you’re saying no so you can clean up, you didn’t read #2.

And when it comes to the beauty side of things, I’d tell her to keep smiling (no one cares about those wrinkles), quit burrowing your forehead (people do care about those one) and keep up the skin routine too – hopefully it’s working. Oh and drink all the water (unless in the future the water is tainted or something and in that case, don’t).

Photos by Whitney Neal

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Thanks so much Clinique for the opportunity to share my #FaceForward thoughts. This post was sponsored and product was provided but as always, all opinions, awkward commentary and thoughts are my own.