What to select and what to reject when buying beauty products.

Work Out Its Worth: Do you stand inside the cosmetics store and think, 'Gee, that bottle of moisturiser costs Rs 300 and for that much I could buy three cheaper ones!' Here's why you should do a quick rethink - cheap isn't necessarily good. Why risk plastering your skin with an inferior product when it might cause you incalculable harm?

Don't Smother Your Skin: Guess which skin-care product is the most overused in the world? Moisturiser, of course! Nature gave us 600 oil glands per cubic centimetre on our noses, 400 on our cheeks, and 20 on our arms. And yet, we insist on loading our faces with pore-clogging, heavy moisturisers. Let skin breathe! You really don't need to slather every inch with those buttery creams. The same goes for exfoliation - it's very refreshing, but overdo it, and you risk over acidifying and irritating your skin. The keyword here is moderation.

New Isn't Always Nice: Almost each time you step into a beauty store, a lovely new product is likely to catch your eye - a vibrant green eye shadow or a shapely bottle of night cream - each promising to do magical things to your skin. But experts say each skin-care or make-up product has an average of 20 to 40 ingredients; so by buying something you haven't used before, you are introducing those many potential allergens to your face. The trick is to use only a small amount to your skin, and wait for a while to see if a rash or breakouts develop.