It's come to this already: I'm taking beauty cues from my diapered darling.

As I chased her around the kiddie pool at Atlantis last month, I cursed myself for my flaky skin. The tot, however, had no such concerns. Why? Her obsession with "otion" (she's forever trying to rub gooey ointments into her pudgy little belly and thighs) has paid off in spades.

One could argue that every toddler has gorgeous skin south of the chin. But I suspect the "otion" has a lot to do with it. Think about it: What little crib dweller isn't slathered from head to toe each day? It's part of the job description.

We mama bears, on the other hand, are left to our own devices. And when we're under wraps, as we are all winter, it's easy to forget about pampering anything but our faces, and, if we think of them on occasion, our mitts.

I, however, have no excuse; I knew about my fun-in-the-sun vacation months in advance. I even stockpiled two decidedly grown-up, supremo body products, Sonya Dakar Omega Hydrator and Mario Badescu Vitamin E Body Lotion (Wheat Germ), to prep for the trip. But then I promptly removed them from my mental to-do list until all those parched, scaly appendages started popping out of the woodwork in the Bahamas. Soooo not sexy.

But better late than never, I say. I returned to New York resolved to treat my bod every bit as well as I do my face. (And since my skin-cancer scare, I've completely upped the ante on that front.)

So I cracked open the Sonya and the Mario. Instantly, I was addicted. Since both brews were formulated by facialists-to-the-stars, they're quite posh—and, more important, loaded with anti-aging ingredients. Although your thighs aren't getting the same daily exposure to the elements as, say, your forehead (well, maybe yours are, but mine aren't), every inch of us is getting older. Sadly, time marches on all over.

Borrowing from the skin-care world, the Omega Hydrator features "face-grade" goodies like antioxidants, essential oils and the same organic omega-3 complex found in Dakar's coveted repair serums. Likewise, the vitamin E potion is essentially a below-the-neck version of Badescu's superpopular Honey Moisturizer.

But here's the rub with my new BFFs Sonya and Mario —they're expensive. Knowing they'll likely wind up in my preholiday/summer stash rather than in heavy rotation year-round, I went in search of a more recession-friendly alternative. It didn't take long. Within seconds of scanning the shelves of Whole Foods, I spotted Burt's Bees Radiance Body Lotion, a bottled powerhouse packed with clock-stopping amino acids and vitamins.

And after weeks of conscientious slathering with my spendy and not-so-spendy beautifiers, I've come to a firm conclusion: Moisturizing is the least of what I need an "otion" to do for me. If I can shave a few years off a body part or two, I'll gladly follow my diapered darling's lead.