When I was at Camp Baby, one of the Neutrogena products they gave us was Neutrogena Age Shield Face Sunblock. I’ve been using it since then, and I can recommend it if you can accept its one major failing. You have to thoroughly examine your face to make sure you don’t have white streaks.

I’ve found that around the edges of my face, in my eye brows, and other places I’m not as likely to rub this stuff in I get white streaks when the sunscreen dries. My face is very pale, and I’d imagine this would be a much worse problem for folks with darker skin.

That said, if you’re OK with policing your skin before you go out the door, this is pretty good stuff. An SFP of 70 is going to give you surface-of-the-sun protection levels, plus it dries to a relatively non-greasy finish suitable for layering makeup over. I was expecting it to have a nasty smell, but in fact it is pretty innocuous.

You can get 2 tubes at Amazon for $20. I use it and recommend it with the above qualifications. (And if you ever see me with white schmutz on my face, would you point it out please??)

UPDATE: OK, so I’ve now used this an additional week, and I can’t recommend it for regular use anymore. The white residue is too tricky to get rid of completely, and it just isn’t worth it. I’m going to save this for when I go to the beach and need some heavy-duty sunscreen that won’t block my pores, but I’ve stopped using it on a daily basis.

This cute little snack of a book only arrived on my doorstep a few days ago, but fortunately it is a very quick read. The quote snippets come from interviews conducted by the authors, and reflect the real lives of mothers. While I found reading the book to be slightly depressing, I could see it being helpful to someone already feeling down about how hard it is to be a parent. In that circumstance it might be reassuring to know that other women are sometimes just as beaten down as you are.

Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile conducted interviews with hundreds of mothers while researching their best-selling book I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids. It didn’t take long before these moms began to reveal their Dirty Little Secrets—surprising, thought-provoking, guilty confessions they hadn’t told anyone else. Cringe-worthy moments (”I bit my daughter’s finger trying to steal a bite of her cookie.”) meet real insights (”I love my kids but I didn’t always. It took time to fall in love with them.”). These are the private thoughts that every mom has—and every mom can relate to.

I can see this being marketed as a great baby shower gift, but fortheloveofgod, please do not give it to a first time mom. If someone had given this to me before I’d been a mom for a few years, I would probably have had a nervous breakdown!

But I will share with you my absolute favorite quote: “My seven-year-old-son walked in on us having sex. We told him we were doing karate in bed.” I want to meet that mom — that chick is hilarious!

Grab a copy for yourself or for an experienced mom friend at Amazon for just $11.