Latest Posts

Pregnancy
Unmasked, Part II
By Amalah
Birth control pills can cause melasma, or dark spots on your face. Fortunately, there are some simple ways to manage this condition.
Party & Play
The Best Tea Party Sets: Like the Boston Tea Party, only less important.
By Melissa Summers
A very nice lady named Sara emailed me to ask, “I’m looking for a tea set to give my niece. I don’t even know where to find something which isn’t plastic and decorated with princesses.” We all know how I feel about character themed items,…
Pregnancy
Unmasked
By Amalah
Pregnancy mask, or melasma, is a form of hyperpigmentation that appears on the face. The best way to prevent it is with sunscreen.
Health
Let’s talk about abortion for a bit.
By Alice Bradley
Well, I see I picked the wrong topic to focus on last week, didn’t I? I was all, End the Mommy Wars, Yo! Women Unite! Then, just before posting, I found that ultrasound bill article, and I added it—didn’t bother to read it, mind you,…
Your Life
Bacne, Shmacne
By Amalah
Dear High Priestess of Beauty & Skincare Amalah, After recently discovering you and soaking up your advice like a sponge, I have recently switched from using the Proactive skincare system to using Philosophy Purity Made Simple for cleansing, thus drastically reducing the number of skincare…
Your Life
The Great Outdoors
By Amalah
I might be camping this summer and I am already stressing about being make up free for a few days. I don’t normally pile it on, but I’m pretty dreary looking without anything. Are there any products out there that could do double duty –…
Uncategorized
Alpha Moms leap to top of trendsetters
By Isabel Kallman
View article from Front Page of USA Today’s Money Section copyTwitterFacebookPin ItEmail Article
Family Fun
The Best Bookplates
By Melissa Summers
Bookplates give children a sense of pride about their books and play on their innate enjoyment of the word “Mine”. Here are a few of our favorite bookplates.
Beauty & Style
Lessons from Laura
By Amalah
Pictures! So on the plus side, the (flat! stringy!) pink hair was really not that noticeable*. However, I’m surprised I did not blind anyone with the force of my forehead glare. Oh, and that is not a shirt poking out of my sweater. That is…
Parenting
Ending the Mommy Wars, once and for all
By Alice Bradley
Over at Finslippy a few months back, I wrote about Melissa Summers’ Today Show interview. Remember that interview? The one about Moms Who Drink One Drink Around Their Children, and Why That Makes Them Drunken Sluts? The one that we all thought might be an…
Products & Services
The Sephora Shoppers’ Handbook
By Amalah
Hey Amy! I’m going to Vegas baby! Which – more importantly – means, I’m going to Sephora baby! Now you may think, yeah, and? Perhaps you don’t realize the good life you live being in the vicinity of actual stores that sell useful, beloved –…
Your Life
The DaSkincare Code
By Amalah
My dearest Amalah, who I may have to name my firstborn child after regardless if it’s a boy or a girl, for the gratitude I feel for you now: Before reading the smackdown I was one of those wash my face with soap and water…
Uncategorized
Great Women’s & Children’s Charities: I would pay someone to dress me honestly.
By Melissa Summers
I rarely highlight charities on my personal website. This is not because there aren’t millions of amazing and worthwhile places to give our time and money. It’s more that I have trouble narrowing down which charities to share. I start with one and this leads…
Baby
Bag Ladies
By Amalah
Amalah, I desperately need to seek some advice from a fashionable mom/advice columnist. Hubby and I are expecting our first (a girl, which may or may not be relevant to this question) in the beginning of June, and I have recently started the online search…
Beauty & Style
A Note From Our Patron Saint
By Amalah
Y’ALL! Laura Bennett needs our help. Your help! It’s such a long story, but let’s just say there is some super-extra-awesome stuff going on behind the scenes here at AlphaMom, blah blah blaaaaaaaaaaaaah, and the upshot is that Laura Bennett (yes, that Laura Bennett, of…
Beauty & Style
Nice Day for a White Wedding
By Amalah
Hello Amy, I have a question about appropriate wedding attire. I’ve been invited to about 3 summer weddings. Is it okay to wear a white dress as a female guest? If it helps, this is the dress I’m trying to decide to buy. Thanks, Emily…
Your Life
On irony, or lack thereof.
By Alice Bradley
When I wrote this piece about breastfeeding, I thought I was laying on the irony a bit overly thick. I thought I was troweling it on to the point where my readers would be rolling their eyes and begging me to exercise some subtlety, in…
Party & Play
Great Children’s Birthday Traditions
By Melissa Summers
I love the idea of having something you use each year to celebrate family birthdays. Here is a collection of ideas for birthday cake traditions.
Relationships
Rock the Casbah Establishment
By Amalah
My husband and I have a bet. Can a man try on panties at a victoria’s secret? Erin Uh. Uhhh. You know what? Let’s talk about my hair instead. Audrey’s all, “NOOOOOO!” Since everybody* is clamoring for the backstory and the “whhhhy” over at my…
Money & Work
Shopping Deal Websites
By Melissa Summers
Starbucks is hosting their 2nd annual Coffee Break on Thursday, March 15th. Between 10 and 12 noon all Starbucks stores in the US and Canada will be giving out free Tall cups of coffee. To find a store near you turn around and there it…
Beauty & Style
Day and Night, Night and Day
By Amalah
This is the last of the half-assed short columns, I swear. But I am leaving for Austin in like, 10 minutes and am trying to get all these entries written ahead of time. Oh! Woe is me! My writing gig is going to cut into…
Health
Sleep deprivation and baby ATMs.
By Alice Bradley
Sleep has again made the headlines, as a new study finds that women don’t get enough, but want more. (Men, apparently, are sleeping all the time. Those well-rested jerks.) The culprits are the usual: children, poor sleep habits, stress, and spouses demanding another night of…
Party & Play
Best Birthday Party Favors: Less Is More
By Melissa Summers
When creating a take-away from a birthday party let’s all make a point to remember this little motto I made up: “Less Is More And Consumable Is Even Better”.
Beauty & Style
Giving You the Benefit of My Years of Experience. And Idiocy.
By Amalah
I’ve recently gotten into the routine of wearing makeup most every day after years of complaining about the time primping stole from my much-needed beauty sleep. By which I mean laziness. But a new city and a new boyfriend and a new job has prompted…
Beauty & Style
Various Issues of the Head Area
By Amalah
(A couple more short ones. Less words for you, plus a wicked case of topic whiplash. Bonus!) Amalah, Is is true that your hair becomes “immune” to a shampoo after you use it for awhile? I freaking love my shampoo (Aveda Pure Abundance Volumizing), but…
Products & Services
The Best Children’s Piggy Banks
By Melissa Summers
Sharing some of our favorite piggy bank and also some are other animals who are equally capable of holding your child’s change.
Beauty & Style
Advice That Gets to the Point, More So Than Usual
By Amalah
(All this week I’m making a concentrated effort to clear out the question queue, so I’ll be posting questions that only need shortish kind of answers, which is why I’ve unfairly ignored them in favor of ones I can really blather on about for awhile.)…
Health & Safety
Ice cream, co-sleeping, and man-bashing
By Alice Bradley
Good news! Science has finally discovered the hidden benefits of ice cream. Eating high fat dairy products, scientists say, can boost your fertility. The health link is to full-fat dairy in general, not specifically to ice cream, but apparently it’s the most attention-grabbing choice of…
Beauty & Style
Hands Don’t Lie
By Amalah
Dear Amy, I have seen the Curel light and love that it moisturizes without being sticky. But I have another more specific lotion question. I’m one of those people who started using anti-aging moisturizer by 20 because I figured that it couldn’t hurt and could…
Holidays
Cat in the Hat Anniversary: I wanted this post to have 236 words. Oops.
By Melissa Summers
At the time children’s literature was somewhat “boring” and “antiseptic”. The Cat In The Hat changed the way kids learned to read,
Money & Work
Dreamjobs
By Amalah
Hey Amy, I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now and though I check your site a bunch of times each day, I usually don’t comment. This is the first time I’ve emailed you, too. Hey, I’m sorta shy! But I’m hoping you…
Your Life
The 79th Annual Academy Awards
By Heather B. Armstrong
The 79th Annual Academy Awards aired Sunday night, and as usual it was longer than a typical Mormon church meeting. How long is a typical Mormon church meeting, you ask? Well, depending on whether or not your mother is the choir director, and your father…
Party & Play
Best Children’s Social Networks
By Melissa Summers
Let’s talk about the computer and things kids can do on socially on the computer with their safety in mind.
Beauty & Style
Price Tag Cage Match: Tweezers
By Amalah
Confession: When I answered this question, I did not base my recommendation for buying “a good set of tweezers” (translation! expensive!) on personal experience. My tweezers are both ancient and total crap. I swiped them from my mom when I left for college and have…
Parenting
Bad kids, bad food, hairy babies, and poor, poor Elmo.
By Alice Bradley
You’ve already eliminated spinach from your diet, as well as peanut butter. You can’t even read Peter Pan to your child without gagging. And now there are even more food recalls. It appears, my Internet friends, that there is absolutely no safe foodstuff left in…
Beauty & Style
My Signature Colors Are Blush, Bashful & Philosophy
By Amalah
Amalah! A few months ago I took your advice and tossed out my microbead face scrubs and astringents in favor of the gentler Philosophy line-up. And oh. Thank you. My skin has never, ever looked better. But now I’m getting greedy. My skin looks good,…
Products & Services
Best Artwork for Children’s Rooms
By Melissa Summers
We’ve found some artwork that we think you’ll love for decorating your kids bedrooms.
Beauty & Style
Burning Eyes of Hate
By Amalah
Hi- My eyelids are sensitive and have been for awhile. In the past I bought higher-end shadow and been ok. Until recently. The shadow I was using was making my eyelids red, puffy and itchy. So I stopped using it- problem solved. This weekend I…
Holidays
National Pancake Day: Celebrating Shrove Tuesday
By Melissa Summers
Hooray for Pancake Day! Sure it’s not Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but it has its own appeal. Like, no hangover.
Beauty & Style
Playing Footsie
By Amalah
(First of all — look! One of our own beloved AlphaFoxyMamas got some good press for doing some good things. Way to go, Jessica!) Dear Amalah, If anyone can save my feet, it’s you. I used to have wonderful, perfect feet. After a trip to…
Parenting
At least we beat the British.
By Alice Bradley
This week, UNICEF released a report on child welfare (a PDF of the report is here). First, the good news: the children of the United States are doing well—compared to third-world countries! Now for the actual news: in the rankings of 21 industrialized countries, we’re,…
Beauty & Style
Price Tag Cage Match: Lengthening Mascaras
By Amalah
Happy Friday! And welcome to a new occasional-totally-not-on-a-regular-schedule feature here at the Advice Smackdown: the Price Tag Cage Match. This is where I’ll use two products — one expensive and one from the drugstore — that promise the same results, and see if the expensive…
Activities
How to Keep Kids Busy and Happy in a Restaurant
By Melissa Summers
Taking your kids out to eat can be a nice break — but it can also be a hassle. Try these simple tips for keeping kids occupied in a restaurant.
Beauty & Style
The Perfect Pair
By Amalah
Dear Ms. Amalah, Since having two beautiful babes in the last 3 years, lets just say I haven’t exactly deemed my wardrobe a priority. Now, while trying to lose the baby weight I’ve decided it’s time to get some good staples in my closet, starting…
Products & Services
Best Alphabet Toys & Decor
By Melissa Summers
Ways to incorporate the alphabet into your child’s daily life and their home environment that can be educational and quite adorable!
Beauty & Style
Eye of Darkness
By Amalah
Dearest Amalah, I have a problem so, duh, who better to answer it than you? There are dark circles under my eyes. Huge, dark, purple circles that NEVER go away. I’ve had them since I was a kid (now 24) and I’m starting to get…
Your Life
Enjoy some culture, take some action
By Alice Bradley
Parents of colic-riddled babies, take heart: the pros are on their way. Probiotics, that is! (I can’t believe I just wrote that.) (And yet I’m leaving it there. For you to witness the horror.) A new study suggests that the probiotic lactobacillus reuteri, a similar…
Health
The Acne Whisperer
By Amalah
Dear Amalah, I was thinking to myself the other day, “Gee, self, I have a skin conundrum! I wonder who on earth could help me?” And then a lightbulb went off and I zoomed over to advice smackdown and perused the archives, hoping I could…

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Latest Posts

Unmasked, Part II

The Best Tea Party Sets: Like the Boston Tea Party, only less important.

Unmasked

Let’s talk about abortion for a bit.

Bacne, Shmacne

The Great Outdoors

Alpha Moms leap to top of trendsetters

The Best Bookplates

Lessons from Laura

Ending the Mommy Wars, once and for all

The Sephora Shoppers’ Handbook

The DaSkincare Code

Great Women’s & Children’s Charities: I would pay someone to dress me honestly.

Bag Ladies

A Note From Our Patron Saint

Nice Day for a White Wedding

On irony, or lack thereof.

Great Children’s Birthday Traditions

Rock the Casbah Establishment

Shopping Deal Websites

Day and Night, Night and Day

Sleep deprivation and baby ATMs.

Best Birthday Party Favors: Less Is More

Giving You the Benefit of My Years of Experience. And Idiocy.

Various Issues of the Head Area

The Best Children’s Piggy Banks

Advice That Gets to the Point, More So Than Usual

Ice cream, co-sleeping, and man-bashing

Hands Don’t Lie

Cat in the Hat Anniversary: I wanted this post to have 236 words. Oops.

Dreamjobs

The 79th Annual Academy Awards

Best Children’s Social Networks

Price Tag Cage Match: Tweezers

Bad kids, bad food, hairy babies, and poor, poor Elmo.

My Signature Colors Are Blush, Bashful & Philosophy

Best Artwork for Children’s Rooms

Burning Eyes of Hate

National Pancake Day: Celebrating Shrove Tuesday

Playing Footsie

At least we beat the British.

Price Tag Cage Match: Lengthening Mascaras

How to Keep Kids Busy and Happy in a Restaurant

The Perfect Pair

Best Alphabet Toys & Decor

Eye of Darkness

Enjoy some culture, take some action

The Acne Whisperer

Week-by-Week

Pregnancy Calendar

Affiliate Relationships