Over-the-counter spot treatments seem downright miraculous, claiming to zap pimples in a matter of hours. As it turns out, that isn’t how anything works — and if you break out all over your face, selectively treating a few spots is, at best, a pretty inefficient strategy.

Few skin conditions torpedo self-esteem the way acne does. As it turns out, a face full of painful lesions — not to mention unsolicited, tone-deaf advice from family and strangers alike — has a way of driving people into hiding. Throw in a whole internet's worth of unverified anecdotes about banishing acne for good and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Look at your knuckles real quick. Are they a bloody disaster?

When we last rounded up our staff's Weekly Upgrades, our editors were meditating, colour coding our inboxes, and finding ways to improve upon our morning coffee.

Who says men can't use makeup and other beauty products marketed toward women? With the help of some nice people at a local makeup store (and my girlfriend), I found some items that even the manliest of men can use discreetly and comfortably. Trust me, the only thing people will notice is how good you look.

We recently wrote about why skincare is important, and what you need in a basic routine. Our sources stressed that everyone, even men, should use sunscreen daily, and usually moisturizer, too. But one commenter piped up to ask: uh, what if I have a beard?

I have extremely oily skin, which I choose to see as a plus: Sure, I spent my 20s fighting stubborn nodulocystic acne, but maybe all that extra oil means I'll age more slowly than my dry-skinned peers. Unfortunately, any anti-ageing effects are probably negated by the grimacing I do when someone insists my skin is oily because I don't moisturise enough. Sorry - "reactive seborrhea" is full-on bull.

If you want to expand your skincare routine beyond cleansing, moisturiser and sunscreen, exfoliation is a good next step. Exfoliating serums and scrubs boast that they can fight acne, clear your pores, reduce fine lines and make your skin vaguely brighter. Some of those promises are true, but they're not the whole story. So here is your scientific, medically backed look at exfoliation: what it can (and can't) do for your skin, and which effective, inexpensive products you can try out.

Facial yoga has been around for decades, although there's been a bit more buzz since a study published last month claimed to find that people who got lessons in face yoga ended up looking slightly younger. But there's plenty of reason to be sceptical.

Zits are unfair. We didn't ask for them, we certainly don't deserve to have them into adulthood, and it's especially insulting when you finally get a giant pimple to go away and then it comes right back a few days later.

Unless you are sure you have every inch of your face covered in sunscreen right now, sit down. We need to talk.

If you want to offset dark circles, redness, or dark spots with makeup, you have to understand how using orange, green, yellow, and a few other colours can even out your skin tone -- called colour-correcting. The technique is popular, but really easy to mess up. This video helps clear up the confusion.

From BB creams to CC creams to powder, there are so many different types of foundation to choose from. If you don't know where to start or you're just looking for a new product, you might find Pigment File useful. It's a searchable and filterable database of every foundation on the market.

Many of us have probably experienced squeezing out what we think might be way too much sunscreen, and so we desperately try to smear the extra on the closest person, or shove some back into the bottle (with no luck). As it turns out, we may actually need all of that...and more.

Marketers will have you believe natural or organic is synonymous with healthy, but that's not always the case. (As one clinical professor put it over at INSIDER, "Poison ivy's organic and it's not good for you.") Even more innocuous ingredients like tea tree oil and rosemary can irritate your skin, though.

Moisturisers, lotions, and even lip balms keep your skin smooth as the weather gets dry because they prevent water from migrating and evaporating out of your skin. This video from the American Chemical Society shows you exactly how they work.

We should all be using sunscreen, but when it comes down to picking one, there's no key to the language on the bottle, and SPF isn't the only thing to look for. Here's a guide to the other biggies: UVA, UVB, and "broad spectrum."