We all want beautiful skin. But not all of us are maintaining a skin care routine that will protect the skin we have and enhance its natural beauty. Sure, we know that we should be washing our faces regularly (you should be doing so twice a day — once at morning and once at night), but we don’t always pay attention to the little details of skin care. Many of us are too willing to shrug off the little details of skin care: What’s the big deal if you sleep in your makeup once in a while? And do you really need to wear sunscreen today?

Here’s your wake-up call. The three common mistakes we cover below can do serious and lasting damage to your skin. Protect your beauty and your health.

Sleeping in your makeup

We get it — sometimes you’re really, really tired when you get home at night. But it’s incredibly important to wash your makeup off of your face before you fall asleep. When you sleep in your makeup, you’re really hurting your skin.

Makeup blocks your pores, and sleeping in makeup can keep those pores all clogged up — so clogged, in fact, that even just one night of sleeping in your makeup can cause significant and lasting damage to your pores and your skin. On top of this, makeup has a nasty habit of collecting free radicals from the environment around you. By the end of the day, your makeup isn’t just makeup anymore — and when you sleep in your makeup, you’re sleeping in all of the other nasty stuff it has picked up during the day, too.

Not wearing SPF lotion every day

You’re no dummy. You know perfectly well that the sun can harm your skin. You know that excessive exposure to the sun can give you a nasty sunburn, and that chronically getting too much sun can increase your risk of skin cancer. So when you head to the beach, you apply a whole lot of sunscreen. You also put sunscreen on when you head out on a jog in the heat of the day, and when you go on a picnic in the park. You apply it before you go to the pool and at the neighborhood cookout.

But what about on the other days? You might not consider SPF lotion to be a daily thing, but the sun does not take days off. That’s why experts recommend wearing at least some degree of SPF every single day, winter and summer, rain or shine. Happily, wearing sunscreen daily isn’t too tough to do: Many simple and non-greasy moisturizers and other skin care creams include SPF protection.

Not moisturizing after each wash

Even the most basic of skin care routines includes washing your face. (In fact, we didn’t even include “not washing your face” on this list — we’re assuming that you’re at least doing that.) But washing your face doesn’t just do good things.

While washing your face is an effective way to get rid of makeup and other nasty stuff, leaving your skin clean and free to breathe, it is also (unfortunately) a good way to dry out your skin. Wetting your skin, applying soap, rinsing, and drying it out again is a process that will leave your skin less moist than it would have been — but you can undo the damage.

Use a very mild cleanser when you wash your face, especially if you don’t have a compelling reason to use a tough one designed for acne or other skin problems. And when you’re done washing, moisturize your skin. Use a simple moisturizing product that is made for facial application (you can and should also use moisturizer on the rest of your body’s skin, but you don’t necessarily need to use fancy facial moisturizer on your arms and legs).

Moisturizing is particularly important in dry climates, point out the experts at Novuskin Med Spa Las Vegas. The pros at Nuvoskin should know: They help people with their skin care in notoriously hot, dry, and sunny Las Vegas. The heat, dryness, and sun are serious enemies of your skin, so be careful to defend your skin with a proper daily routine. And visit the spa once in a while, too. The pros can help you combat damage that your routine doesn’t defend against, and they can help you fine-tune that routine to get the healthy and beautiful skin you deserve.