BEAUTY TIPS: TAKE OFF YOUR MAKEUP AT NIGHT

You've known since middle school that makeup can mix with skin oils and dirt to cause zits. Cosmetics can also trap skin-damaging free radicals that float in the air (think: bus exhaust) against your skin, according to Zoe Draelos, a professor of dermatology at Duke University School of Medicine. But you've had a long day, and the bathroom sink is 20 feet away....

• Avoid the situation entirely by washing your face as soon as you get home. Don't wait for the final credits of The Daily Show to roll. At the very least, remove your mascara.

• For nights when you're just knackered, Heidi Waldorf, a professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, tells patients to dab on Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser with a tissue, wipe it off, and never mind the residue—it's actually moisturizing.

• Patricia Wexler, a professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, advises keeping face wipes, like Almay Oil-Free Makeup Remover Towelettes, on the bedside table. Tear open, swab, slumber.