Styles: Half Good, Half Ick

THERE'S NOTHING CHIC about Gold Bond. Frankly, we could only remember it as a yellow bottle hanging out in our dad's medicine cabinet along with 17 old prescriptions and five almost-empty toothpaste tubes. But the recently launched Skin Therapy line, including Healing and Softening ($6.50 each, drugstores) might change our minds about the brand. The shea butter-based Softening lotion is particularly good, with a soapy scent and a greaseless feel. The Healing variety, though, has an unpleasant twanginess to its aroma and doesn't absorb well.

» WHATEVER HAPPENED TO A GOOD OLD SMACK?: What if your kids automatically washed their hands before dinner and put their napkin in their adorable little laps before eating? The Kids Good Manners Placemat Set ($10 for four, goodmannersplacemats.com) aim to teach table manners, prompting your Sweetpea to ask to be excused and other niceties. But since you put plates smack on top of them, the message gets covered up and promptly forgotten. You'll have more luck tying strings on their fingers. At least the mats wipe clean easily, unlike your darlings' jelly-covered digits.

With contributions by Lynn Thorne
Photo courtesy Gold Bond