Happy New Year! Holiday partying got you feeling a little worn out? Resolve to take better care of your hair and skin in 2010, with these five simple resolutions.

Ready?

Wash your face, every day. Use a gentle cleanser, formulated for your particular skin; I like Neutrogena’s Fresh Foaming Cleanser for my combination skin. Wash before bed to remove makeup and sunscreen and the daily grit; wash again in the morning if you’re using any kind of treatment products (Retin A, for example) overnight. Otherwise, you can just rise with tepid water in the morning.

Wear sunscreen, every day. A moisturizer with an SPF of at least 15 will protect your face from incidental sun exposure during your normal day, which means fewer wrinkles and age spots down the line. Using a foundation with an SPF doesn’t provide enough coverage; foundation shifts and wears off during the day, and doesn’t completely cover your face in the first place.

Wear less foundation. Keep foundation in your T zone (forehead, nose, chin) and blend carefully; choose a foundation that matches the color of your skin. Experiment with a foundation brush or sponge for proper blending, or look in to a mineral foundation. The goal is to create perfect, natural looking skin — foundation that covers your face like a mask is neither. In addition, keep foundation away from any wee wrinkles around your eyes and mouth; it will settle in the crevices and make them look worse than they are.

Clean out your makeup bag. While some makeup can be kept essentially forever (powder eye shadows and blushes, for example) other things need to be tossed regularly. Foundation and concealer will last for 12 months; mascara needs to be tossed after 4 months. Eye liners can be used until you have sharpened them all the way down; same goes for lip liners. Lipstick lasts essentially forever, as long as it’s not changing color or drying out — wipe the top clean with a tissue if it’s been sitting for a while or if you’ve been sick.

Make an appointment with a dermatologist. Ask about any skin care concerns you have (wrinkles, enlarged pores) as well as any spots on your skin that don’t look right (moles or sunspots). Don’t wait until you’re having issues with your skin — visit the dermatologist now and tell her what you’re hoping to prevent. If your goal is to be wrinkle-free at 50, celebrate your 30th birthday by chatting with a skin doctor. Prevention is the best cure.

Get the new year off to a good start with a clean makeup bag and a good skin care routine. In the next few weeks, we’ll talk about makeup bag basics, and about why you don’t really need three mascaras.

Happy New Year!

Photo: Sephora Rouge Cream lip stick, $12. Available at Sephora.com.