We hold these truths to be self-evident: that you need to cleanse, nourish and protect your skin. But some skin care facts haven’t made it into conventional wisdom. Top dermatologists share five ways to tweak your skin care regimen to get your most radiant complexion ever.

Moisturize Frequently  
To fight acne, don’t forget the moisturizer, which improves skin’s ability to keep bacteria out and water in. Why is water important? Flaky, dehydrated skin is irritated skin, which sends distress signals to our immune cells, distracting them from healing the inflammation that can accompany acne. Making things worse, the blemish-prone often overcleanse to the point of dryness, which adds more dead skin cells to those already clogging the pores.

To properly keep skin hydrated, wear a light, oil-free, water-based moisturizer. For extra oomph, choose one laced with a zit-fighting ingredient such as salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retinol (nighttime use only) or azelaic acid.

Find the Right Retinoid
Vitamin A creams, known as retinoids, are scientifically proven to help unclog pores, smooth wrinkles, lighten brown spots and improve skin texture. The only hitch is that retinoids in prescription-strength form (which deliver the fastest results) can irritate the skin of first-time users and cause stinging, redness and peeling.  

Acclimate your skin by using a retinoid just twice a week, with the eventual goal of applying it every night.  Or build tolerance by starting with a less potent, over-the-counter form of retinoid: look for the words retinol, retinal, retinaldehyde or retinyl palmitate on the label. Pumped into gels, serums and creams, these ingredients take a little longer to show benefits -- up to six months. But by then you’ll be more than ready to graduate to their Rx cousins.

Load up on Vitamins
Like an alphabet soup, vitamins A, B, C and E call out from the labels of skin-care products. These antioxidant vitamins are naturally present in our skin, but they need replenishment to keep our collagen from being gobbled up by free radicals caused by UV light and pollution. Each excels at something: vitamin A builds collagen and quells enzymes that destroy it; vitamin B (which includes B12, B3 or niacinamide, and folic acid) reduces inflammation, water loss and uneven pigmentation; vitamin C protects against UV damage and improves skin texture; and vitamin E is an emollient that fights redness. 

To cover all the bases, make your products multitask by using a serum containing some of the vitamins and a moisturizer pumped with the others.

Look for Botanical Ingredients
By switching to cleansers and creams containing certain key botanicals, those of us with sensitive skin (a propensity to become blotched, red and irritated) might never have to reach for another tube of greasy hydrocortisone to calm an angry eruption. The top six botanical ingredients that get the nod from doctors because of their anti-inflammatory, antiredness and anti-irritant properties include: colloidal oatmeal, feverfew, licorice, aloe vera, chamomile and turmeric. Not only are these safe for sensitive skin and sufferers of chronic conditions like rosacea, their daily use will help prevent future flare-ups.

Say Yes to Ceramides
A natural component of the top layer of our skin, ceramides are fats that act like mortar to the bricks (cells) that form a wall to keep water inside the skin. When this brick wall is well-preserved, the result is a glowing, well-hydrated complexion. During the winter and as we age, ceramide levels start to drop, shrinking the mortar and causing dry, inflamed skin. Fortunately, we can replenish lost ceramides with synthetic or natural forms, both of which are found in moisturizers. To get your money’s worth, look for ceramides in the top half of the ingredients list.

Are you starting to stress about holiday shopping? Skip the mall and consider do-it-yourself gifts from the garden instead. No, not bouquets of flowers, but infused vinegars, oils, salts and beauty potions handcrafted from easy-to-find garden herbs.

Whether you grow mint and oregano on your kitchen windowsill or in your backyard, pick up basil and cilantro at the farmers market or pass fragrant rosemary bushes when you walk the dog, the herbs you need for these inexpensive and eco-friendly gifts are easily within reach.

Here’s step-by-step advice from master gardener Lora Hall. She cultivates an urban garden in downtown Los Angeles for the farm-to-table menu at Cube Cafe in West Hollywood, Calif., and she also runs Full Circle Gardening, which provides services to the home gardeners of Los Angeles.

Herb-infused Vinegar
Start with a clean quart-size jar, which can be a recycled bottle from pasta sauce or other pantry staples. Rinse two handfuls of a food-friendly herb like tarragon, thyme, rosemary or oregano. Stuff the herbs, stems and all into the bottom of the jar. “You want roughly an amount that would fill a cup,” says Hall. Fill the rest of the jar with an inexpensive white wine or apple-cider vinegar, making sure all the leaves are submerged.

Cover the bottle with a lid and let it sit on your countertop or windowsill for at least two weeks to let the full flavors of the herbs infuse the vinegar. When you’re ready to bottle the vinegar, slowly strain out the now discolored herbs through a funnel lined with cheesecloth or a piece of an old but clean T-shirt, into a smaller jar, like one used for bottled salad dressing. If the jar isn’t full, top it off with uninfused vinegar.

Tie a piece of twine or ribbon around the bottle and through a make-it-yourself label. “The vinegar is a great way to bring out flavors in salads, stews, soup or chili without adding extra salt,” says Hall. With a shelf life of six months or more, this is a gift your friends will enjoy long after other trinkets have been forgotten.

Herb-flavored Salt
Put sprigs of a savory herb like rosemary, oregano, thyme or sage and a cup of sea salt into a food processor. Pulse a few times until the herbs are finely chopped and blended evenly throughout the salt. Pour into a small jar. “I especially love sage salt,” says Hall. “It goes beautifully with anything you’re cooking in butter, such as eggs or a brown-butter pasta sauce.”

Herb-infused Oil
Rinse and dry a handful of your choice herb. You want about 1/2 cup in all. Place the herbs in the bottom of a small jar and cover them with a cup of extra virgin olive oil. Let the mixture stand in a dry cool place for a week or two. Strain out the herbs and pour the oil into a clean jar.

Herbal Hand and Body Cream
Follow the directions for herb-infused oil, choosing a fragrant herb like lavender or chamomile (you can use dried chamomile that’s sold as a loose tea). Place an ounce of solid beeswax (look for this at a farmers market stand that sells honey or in a natural-products store) in the top of a double boiler. Slowly melt the beeswax over a low flame, whisking in the olive oil in a very slow stream. Transfer it to a blender; add a cup of water about an ounce at a time, pulsing to blend. “Go very slowly,” says Hall. “It will take about five minutes to get the nice creamy emulsion you want.” Pour it into a jelly jar. The consistency will be slightly liquid. By the next day or two, it will harden to a creamy texture that makes a wonderfully rich moisturizer.

While many of us are pretty religious about making hair appointments, we tend to let things slide when it comes to facials. All that coddling with lotions and potions seems so indulgent, it’s easy to pooh-pooh the results of a facial. “A facial will keep your skin healthy and hydrated and also protect it from the environment,” says dermatologist Howard Murad, M.D., associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA. “And if you have specific problems, like uneven pigmentation or breakouts, the appropriate facial can really make a difference.”

What to Expect During Your Facial
A thorough facial typically consists of seven steps:

1. A rigorous cleansing with a product for your skin type (normal, dry, oily, combination or sensitive)

2. Skin analysis through a brightly lit magnifying lamp

3. A deep steam-cleaning with a mechanical or chemical exfoliant

4. Extraction of blackheads and whiteheads

5. Massage to stimulate circulation and relax facial muscles

6. A mask targeted to your skin type

7. Application of toners and protective creams

What a Facial Does Best

• Exfoliates: When dead skin cells hang on, they prevent our skin from reflecting light, making our complexion appear rough and discolored. To remove that dull, ashy layer, the aesthetician will choose the best exfoliant for your skin type, either a gritty scrub or a smooth chemical agent, such as an alpha or a beta hydroxy acid or a papaya enzyme.
• Extracts: With the top layer of dead skin cells cleared away and the contents of the pores softened by steam, the facialist uses sterile tools to extract the debris with just the right amount of pressure.
• Lightens: If uneven pigmentation and brown spots are a concern, the facialist can apply a mask, peel or serum containing proven skin lighteners such as vitamin C, licorice extract, pomegranate extract, kojic acid or arbutin.
• Hydrates: When the top layer of skin contains its full complement of water, it looks firm, soft and supple. To max out our water-holding capabilities, the facialist uses “steam, humectants and moisturizing agents, which plump up the skin and pop out the wrinkles by infusing those receded areas with moisture,” says aesthetician Stacy Cox, owner of Pampered People spa in Valley Village, California.

When to Schedule a Facial
Book your facial a few days or even a week before a big event to allow any irritation to subside. A good facial shouldn’t irritate your skin to the point where it triggers inflammation, but there’s always the chance of residual redness from extractions or light peels.

The few days before the start of the menstrual cycle can be a tender time for some women. If you find your nerve endings are more sensitive to pain or discomfort at this time of the month, it’s best to reschedule a facial or ask your aesthetician to lay off the extractions.

Thin-skinned? Proceed With Caution
Because sensitive skin is by definition finely textured, with a thin epidermis and blood vessels that are close to the surface, an experienced facialist will follow what Cox calls the “less heat, less time, less product” rule. That translates into not over-steaming the face, using lukewarm instead of hot towels, exfoliating with gentle enzymes instead of a strong glycolic acid, performing fewer extractions and using a hydrating mask.

As fall sets in, you notice that your skin and hair have gone from sun-kissed to sun-stressed. “When a patient comes to me in September, the most common complaints are brown spots, broken capillaries and fine lines,” says Rebecca Fitzgerald, M.D., a Los Angeles dermatologist. And while a season of sun, sea and chlorine has left your skin dehydrated and blotchy, your hair is likely to look fried and lifeless. “Hair needs extra TLC at the end of summer,” says Los Angeles hairstylist Rebecca DuMoulin, “especially if it’s color treated.”

Here are the top fixes for summer’s beauty blunders; some you can do on your own and others with a little help from the pros.

How to Get Your Glow Back
Your dermatologist can help erase sun damage by literally shining a light on the problem. Intense pulsed light treatments (also known as IPL, Fotofacial or Photofacial) deliver high-intensity bursts of light to areas of pigment that don’t match your regular skin tone, such as red, tan and brown spots as well as tiny broken capillaries. The melanin in those areas absorbs the light, and over the next few days, the spots darken and then flake off, replaced by new even-toned skin tissue. (IPL, however, may be less effective on skin that already contains a lot of pigment, so women with darker skin tones should discuss with their dermatologist whether the treatment is right for them.)

Another option your doctor may suggest is a light chemical peel that uses salicylic or glycolic acid to exfoliate the top layers of skin, helping to slough away discoloration, fine wrinkles and coarse texture. Your doctor may also write a prescription for a topical retinoid -- a vitamin A derivative -- that smoothes the skin and evens out discoloration by speeding cell turnover. “The only caveat with retinoids is that the gain is long haul and not overnight. Give them a few months,” advises Fitzgerald.

Skin Fixes From the Drugstore
Over-the-counter retinoids are lower in strength than their prescription sisters, but still highly effective. Look for the word “retinol” on the product’s label. And while nonprescription retinoids are less likely than prescription formulas to irritate your skin, they can still cause dryness, so start by using your new cream every other night.

Other great drugstore ingredients to look for are AHA’s (alpha hydroxy acids, commonly listed as glycolic or salicylic on the ingredients list). Like the chemical peels you’d receive in a doctor’s office, these products work to exfoliate the top damaged layers of skin.

Moisture and Shine Repair for Hair
“End-of-summer hair looks dry because the cuticle on the hair shaft isn’t lying flat, causing strands to lose moisture and gloss,” says DuMoulin. A trim at a salon is the only way to get rid of split or ragged ends, but there are also deep-conditioning treatments available that help the scalp and flood your hair with moisturizers. These deep-conditioning treatments smooth the scale-like cells of the cuticle, instantly boosting shine. At home, switch to moisturizing conditioners and fake shine with a silicone spray. Silicone gives hair an instant gloss and tames flyaways while you are babying your hair back from summer damage.

Reversing Hair’s Brassiness and Blahs
After months of sun exposure, hair that has been colored often looks brassy and dull. “Women who color their hair dark brown or red suffer the most because these colors really fade in the sun,” says DuMoulin. A toner can help add some extra depth to your hue. While blondes don’t suffer from fading in the summer, too much sun “and their hair looks one-dimensional,” says DuMoulin. One solution is to add some lowlights to give your light tresses more depth.

Feet, being so far below our eyes, often get overlooked when it comes to a regular beauty routine. The result? Most of us walk around with cracked heels, callused toes and dirty soles that never seem to scrub clean -- not exactly the look you want to show off in your new beach sandals.

Summer is the cruelest season for feet, says Reham Bastawros, co-owner of the Nail Garden, a Los Angeles mani-pedi spa that cares for the cuticles of Renee Zellweger, Miley Cyrus and Megan Fox. “During the winter, when your feet are covered in socks and boots, there’s less damage done to them,” says Bastawros. But by late summer, weeks of flip-flops and sandals can cause the exposed skin of the feet to chafe against the straps with every step. “I’ve seen heels that are cracked to the point that they’re open wounds,” she says.

For stunning tootsies all year round, follow this nourishing routine:

The 6-step Professional Pedicure
Twice a year (once before the summer season and once before the winter holidays), treat yourself to an intensive professional pedicure. Choose a treatment that includes the following steps:

1. A salt bath to soften feet.

2. Callus removal, which therapists usually carry out by first brushing a special softening solution onto the affected area and then using a brand-new or properly sanitized tool.

3. A sugar scrub to exfoliate the whole foot.

4. A foot massage, using a natural oil such as grapeseed, which deeply penetrates your skin, returning feet to supple form.

5. A hot paraffin wrap, which seals in moisture.

6. And finally, the fun part: the classic pedicure, during which your toenails are cut and filed, cuticles are softened and nails are painted.

Do-it-yourself Daily Maintenance
1. Sit at the edge of your bathtub and apply a foot scrub. Choose one that contains your favorite essential oils or make your own by combining 1 tablespoon olive oil with 1 tablespoon raw sugar, oatmeal or chickpea flour. Massage the scrub into your feet and leave it on for five minutes. If time permits, soak hand towels in warm or hot water, and wrap them around your feet. This seals in moisture and works in the same way as a paraffin wax treatment.

2. Keep a foot brush or designated washcloth in the shower. Pour liquid soap onto your chosen scrubber and rub until your heels and toes are thoroughly clean. Three times a week while showering, run a foot file vigorously across your heels and soles. Be sure to replace your file once a month to avoid bacteria buildup.

3. Immediately after your bath or shower, slather your feet with a thick body butter, taking care to massage the lotion into your heels and soles.

4. For an added moisture boost, twice a week before you go to bed, rub olive oil all over your feet and soles, and sleep with socks on.

Summer’s Hottest Toenail Colors
In-vogue toenail colors change just like lipstick shades, and this season brings surprising hues. Naja Green, who owns Extremydys 2012, a West Hollywood hand-and-foot spa that tends to the toes of Lady Gaga, Fergie and Mary J. Blige, says yellow, bright whites, fluorescent pink and light blues are all big this summer, and soft, creamy colors “look amazing on sun-kissed toes.”

Nail Garden’s Bastawros is a fan of metallic nails like those seen in Sex and the City 2. “Matte lacquer is cutting-edge for sophisticated style, pink always feels flirty with sweet summer dresses, and dark polishes are almost accessories in themselves,” says Bastawros. For an extra touch of edgy chic, slip on a toe ring or ankle bracelet.