However much we slather our faces in serums, eye creams, night creams and moisturiser, there is one part of the body that will always betray our age: our hands.
Last week, a survey suggested that ageing hands are one of our biggest beauty worries, with one in eight of us being more concerned about the condition of our mitts than our face.
As the years pass, skin on the hands thins, causing veins to become more prominent and liver spots to appear. While make-up can disguise tell-tale signs of ageing on the face, it's more difficult with hands - which is why it's often said that hands are the best indicator of age. Even Madonna, pictured right, who has 'anti-aged' almost every part of her body, resorts to fingerless gloves to cover hers.
But without injections of fat, fillers or laser treatment to remove age spots, how can you knock a few years off your hands? Here are some simple yet effective ideas.
Banish blotches
As we get older, the cells within the skin that make melanin (the brown pigment that gives us a tan) cluster together into visible marks known as liver or age spots. How many of these appear depends on how much exposure to sunlight our hands have had over a lifetime, but they can be softened without resorting to expensive laser treatment. Nivea's Q10 Plus Age Defying Hand Cream (£2.83) promises to reduce excess pigmentation, while Clinique's Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Correcting Hand Cream (£22.50) has been clinically shown to reduce dark marks as effectively as the prescription product hydroquinone.
You can even achieve the effects of a chemical skin peel by using Chrono Reverser Gel (£47.50, the-comfort-zone.co.uk). This contains polyhydroxy acids which mimic the effects of a chemical peel, leaving skin smoother and firmer. If used nightly for four weeks, it promises to fade age spots as well as fine lines.
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Slather on an SPF
Except when they are in gloves, our hands are continually exposed to the elements. Sun damage causes up to 80 per cent of the visible signs of ageing, and loss of firmness, roughness and age spots are all a direct result of how many UV rays our hands have picked up. Wearing sunscreen, or a hand cream containing both UVA and UVB filters, prevents future damage.
It doesn't have to be expensive - Superdrug's Solait SPF30 sunscreen costs £2.48 and Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Anti-Ageing Hand Cream now contains SPF25 (£4.09, at Boots). Tinted face products work on hands too, and can disguise any redness around the knuckles. Sarah McNamara's Miracle Skin Transformer (£38 at Selfridges.com) is a tinted multi-tasker that not only smoothes and evens out skin tone but contains an SPF 20.
'The pared-back manicure is a key look this summer,' says celebrity nail technician Marian Newman
Nail it
The surface of your nails can become roughened, dull and discoloured over the years, so giving them a little TLC can have anti-ageing benefits. Nail care doesn't have to be elaborate. 'The pared-back manicure is a key look this summer,' says celebrity nail technician Marian Newman. 'Focus on creating a perfect short, curved shape for the nails, then use a quality buffer to bring out their natural shine.' Leighton Denny's Large Crystal Nail File (£15.50, Boots) is a long-lasting investment, as is Models Own 4-way Buffer Block (£3.50, Boots).
Dare to go bare
Nail colour that is garishly bright can draw unwanted attention to the hands.
Play it safe with a nude varnish, this summer's most fashionable shade, for what Revlon calls the 'mannequin hands' look, where your nails are almost the same colour as your fingers, creating the effect of long, elegant fingers (Revlon has eight nude shades to choose from, £7.99 at Boots and Superdrug).
Putting hands up keeps them cool and pale and makes bulging veins look temporarily less prominent
Hands up!
Adopt the time-honoured debutante's trick for achieving beautiful hands. They used to hold their hands in the air while being driven to a fancy party. Why? So that by the time they arrived, the blood had drained down from their hands, which would be fashionably cool and pale for when they had shake their hostess's hand. It also makes bulging veins look temporarily less prominent.
Rub it in
Anti-ageing creams for hands do exist! Dermaquest has a Glyco Hand Cream (£42, houseoffraser.co.uk) which contains 15 per cent glycolic acid to help speed up cell turnover and leave skin smooth and soft.
Palm off
The palms are the only part of the body that do not grow hair or tan
The peptides popular in face creams can also be found in hand lotions such as Renouve (£22 from victoriahealth.com), an alcohol-free 'anti-ageing hand sanitising lotion' .
The crème de la hand-crème has to be La Prairie's White Caviar Illuminating Hand Cream SPF 15 (£93, Selfridges.com). Ingredients include an exfoliating peptide, rich conditioners and SPF 15.
Little things count
Ragged cuticles make hands look unkempt and older. Soak them in warm water to soften them, then ease the cuticle back using a wooden orange stick, and rub in cuticle oil every night.
If you can't stand getting your fingers oily, try Margaret Dabbs Nourishing Nail and Cuticle Serum (£10, margaretdabbs.co.uk) or a cuticle pen such as Rituals Cuticle Treatment Pen (£7.50, rituals.com and John Lewis.
Ragged cuticles make hands look unkempt. Soak them to soften, then ease the cuticle back
Diet is everything
Eating well gives nails and skin a boost. Make sure your diet includes plenty of protein in the form of fish, eggs, lean meat and cheese. Packing in colourful vegetables will strengthen skin, too, and the antioxidants they contain improve its ability to stand up to sunshine and pollution.
Research by Dr Mark Birch-Machin, professor of molecular dermatology at Newcastle University, has found that a diet rich in tomatoes increases the skin's ability to protect itself, thanks to the antioxidant lycopene that they contain (it's the pigment which gives tomatoes their colour).
Other beneficial antioxidants include carotene, found in carrots, and anthocyanins, which give blueberries their colour.
Pop a pill
If your diet isn't providing the right nutrients, you can take supplements to strengthen nails and thicken skin. Studies have indicated that Imedeen Time Perfection tablets (£35, imedeen.co.uk) improve the density of ageing skin by 122 per cent, while Evelle (£35.95 from multivits.co.uk)claims to have a unique formula to support skin, nails and hair.
Packing in colourful vegetables will strengthen skin and the antioxidants improve ability to stand up to sun
Don't get in a lather
If your job involves lots of hand-washing, it's even more important to use a protective cream. Paediatric nurse Antonia Steven has created a remarkably good cream called 'Yes Nurse' (£5.49, yesnurse.co.uk).
Another cracker of a thick, protective cream is Farmers' Hand Cream (£12.95, welshlavender.co.uk), while Lanolips Rose Balm Intense for Very Dry Hands and Nails (£8.99, victoriahealth.com) is based on medical-grade lanolin.
Hand in glove
Using hand-treatment products overnight in conjunction with cotton gloves is a short cut to better-looking hands - the build-up of heat helps lotions to penetrate.
Facialist Sarah Chapman has created the gorgeous new Overnight Hand & Nail Treatment (£35 including gloves, spacenk.com), while Bliss Glamour Gloves (£36.50, blissworld.co.uk) have a self-activating, moisturising gel lining impregnated with vitamin E, olive and grapeseed oils. Wear them for 20 minutes at a time to soften, hydrate and smooth.
There is even a 'face-mask' for hands, the Sanctuary Anti-Ageing Intensive Hand Mask (£5.10 at Boots). Massage it in last thing at night, then pull on the gloves that come with it to help the product soften your skin overnight.