Eye cream seems like such a no-brainer part of your skin care regimen, right? But in most cases, you can skip it, says Gold.

"If the eye cream actually has specific ingredients that you need for your eyes, [like retinol or growth factors] then go ahead and use it," he says. "But in general you can just use your face creams on your eye area. Some eye creams are basically the same products anyway in different packaging." So there's really no need to spend more money; instead just dab some of your moisturizer and face serums around your eye area as well.

Spunt and O'Connor are big advocates of using natural products, but they point out that Mother Nature can still do some major damage to your skin. For example, tea tree oil, used sparingly, can be a great way to fight zits. But if you apply too much, your skin can end up as red and flaky as it would have been after a repeated dousing of benzoyl peroxide.

The lesson: Whether a product is "organic" or completely cooked up in a lab, follow the instructions carefully and remember, more is rarely better when it comes to skin care.