Arbonne Baby Care Sunscreen SPF 30+
What they say: This sunscreen is formulated with antioxidant vitamins A, C and E and gentle botanicals. It is PABA-free, pediatrician and dermatologist tested and provides broad-spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays.
What I say: Before trialling this sunscreen on the kids I took it for a test drive on myself. I hate greasy sunscreens, especially on my face, and this is not in the slightest bit greasy. It actually feels quite divine to apply. It is thick but left my skin feeling silky soft. It smells really pleasant - kind of florally, but the fragrance isn't at all overpowering - it is perfect actually. It absorbed very easily and did not leave my skin looking white. I found that it offered great sun protection; however, I didn't test it whilst swimming and I wasn't outside for hours - just an outing to the park - so I can't comment on it's efficacy over long periods (but seriously, what baby would be out tanning for hours on end anyway).
Once the sunscreen got the mummy seal of approval, I then recruit three mini reviewers to take it for a test drive - my 2 1/2 year old son, The Crazy Kid, his best friend Ninus (same age) and my 3 month old baby, Kiki. The instructions actually suggest getting doctors approval for use on children under 6 months but I wasn't going to take Kiki to the doctor just to ask if it was OK to use sunscreen on her so I did a patch test on her stomach instead. As Crazy has reacted to sunscreens in the past I also did a patch test on his stomach. After 24 hours they were both nonreactive so it was time to take it for a test drive.
I seem to breed fat bald babies. Since Kiki has very little hair, I usually put sunscreen all over her head as well as on her face. If she is out of the pram she will wear a hat but when lying in the pram the hat keeps sliding down and covering her face, which understandably pisses her off, so I don't tend to use a hat when she is in the pram. I try to keep her shaded so the sunscreen is just an added protection in case I haven't noticed the sun come across her face. I found the sunscreen very easy to apply to her - I rub it between my hands then quickly wipe it over her face. I'm sure I have accidentally gotten some on her lips but she has never reacted as if there was a bad taste on her mouth. She rubs her eyes when she is tired yet the sunscreen absorbs so quickly that she hasn't managed to rub it into her eyes. Kiki has a touch of cradle cap between her eyebrows and on her scalp and I find the sunscreen leaves white marks in these areas but not on the rest of her skin. To remove the white marks from her skin, I massage in Jojoba oil (I use 100% natural Australian Jojoba oil from The Jojoba Company) into her skin and find that this acts like an oil cleanser and removes the excess sunscreen plus has the added bonus of moisturising her dry skin. I have been extremely happy with the performance and gentleness of this sunscreen on Kiki's delicate, 3 month old skin.
Next up to trial the sunscreen was Crazy. Applying sunscreen to him is much more difficult as his instinct is to resist, resist, resist! I need to pin him down with one arm and quickly smear the sunscreen over his exposed areas with the other. I have precisely 5 seconds to do his entire body before he usually escapes and runs away. I found that I could usually get his arms rubbed in well but only would get a chance to smear it over his face and not rub it in properly. So, when he makes his bolt he usually has white streaks over his face. What surprised me is that within a minute or two these white streaks had vanished so the sunscreen still managed to absorb even without a decent rub in. Crazy hasn't reacted once to the sunscreen which is brilliant. And, apart from the fact that he doesn't like me applying it, he has had no other issues with it - same as Kiki no issues with it getting into his eyes or bad taste when I inadvertently get it in his mouth. So that's two more thumbs up from Crazy.
The third reviewer I had was Ninus. Unlike, Crazy Ninus is Mr Independent and likes to do things on his own - apply sunscreen included. I just place a blob on his hand and left him to do as a good a job as a 2 1/2 year old could do in applying sunscreen. He ended up with white blobs all over his face but again, within minutes, it had completely absorbed. So Ninus completed the hat-trick of successful applications of the Arbonne Baby Care Sunscreen SPF 30+. Not one of my reviewers got sunburned, none reacted to the cream, and apart from the dry scaly areas of cradle cap that Kiki has, none of my reviewers ended up looking like white ghosts!
I love this sunscreen. It is truly lovely to use. I highly recommended it to any parent who is after a nice sunscreen for their kids.
The Arbonne Baby Care Sunscreen SPF 30+ is $41.50 for 177ml. It can either be bought online or through a consultant. EDIT: I have just been informed that this can only be bought through a consultant. One of my long time readers has just let me know that she is a consultant - if you would like to purchase this you can contact me and I will pass on her email address.
All opinions are my own and I received no remuneration for this post. This product was provided for consideration.