Review: Yes to Carrots Exfoliating and Soothing Mud Mask

I have been quite a good girl lately, taking care to apply my mask every now and then.


While my favourite zit-buster is still this Himalaya mask, but everyone and then it's nice to have a little something different. And that's when I bring out my Yes to Carrots Exfoliating and Soothing Mud Mask (for normal and dry skin).

It's nice enough to use, but does it really work? Read on to find out.

Citrus Lipbalm Roundup

It seems, that quite inadvertedly I've gained myself a reputation for being a wee bitty lip balm mad - along with lip stain and blotter mad. And looking at my recent posts and buys I'd guess it's TRUE! And it isn't just lip balm mad, it seems I'm grapefruit and citrus mad. Ah well looking at my lovely pressies, I'm not complaining. =)

Anyway rather than bore you with four seperate posts of my latest citrus lip salves I thought I'd just do a quick roundup of them all.

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Lip Butter

It's just the wee one sitting on top, but I couldn't resist photographing it perched on my mini body butter which, in turn, is on the full-sized body butter. Isn't it cuuute?

Now in terms of scent this lil tub does not disappoint. It's so chockablock of that pink grapefruit scent that started it all that I'm tempted to use it as solid perfume! It does smell scrumptious but to be honest, a bit too perfumey to be absolutely edible.

It also isn't as moisturising as I thought it would be! I only use it at night because it's in a rather inconvenient tub and leaves a whitish cast on the lips but it really isn't as emollient or as moisturising as expected. If you have very dry lips this may not be for you.

In conclusion, if not for the scent this actually is not quite worth the buy. Also, it's been discontinued and isn't available here anymore, I picked up one the last few tubs in a TBS store in Hong Kong for HKD69.

Yes to Carrots C Me Smile Lip Butter in Citrus

This is now one of my absolutely favourite lipbalms! It's more moisturising than its minty sister, and smells exactly like more concentrated St Ives Citrus Energizing Wash! Yummeh!

Like the mint flavoured one, this doesn't leave a glossy finish or have any flavour. Just scent. It's a crisp citrusy cocktail in which I can pick out notes of lemon, grapefrui and lime. Love it! Oh and it's organic, critter friendly and vegan. What's not to love?

I bought this one in Hong Kong as well for HKD19.90 and it's available in Singapore for SGD$5 - so it's actually about the same price in both countries. Maybe slightly cheaper in Hong Kong.

Mentholatum Grapefruit Jelly

This was part of a birthday pressie from the lovely Rinnah and it's the truest grapefruity-est scent I've ever come across. I don't think it's available in Malaysia so I'll have to make Rinnah tell me. I think I spotted it in Hong Kong while I was there but told myself the lip balm mania had to stop somewhere! Gotta stock up next time I'm near it.

Its scent is remarkably like Daiso's grapefruit balm but is slightly tarter (which I love) and well, I'll admit that I have more confidence in Mentholatum balms than Daiso's which make me a bit jumpy everytime I use it. It's not as moisturising as Yes To Carrots but its light refreshing scent makes it great to use throughout the day.

It applies smoothly but isn't very glossy. It also doesn't last very long but I don't mind, it gives me an excuse to reapply. Absolutely love this one.

Star&Rose Sweet Shop Lemon Drops Lip Balm

As if to balance out the lip balm love, this one is absolutely jaw-droppingly dreadful! It's so awful that it's FUNNY. The colleague who gave it to me as part of a darling birthday package from New Zealand (where she was holidaying) was giggling madly with me when I showed her the opened tube and apologised for my complete inability to use it. Her gift was well-meant and she knows I love lemons - but oh my.

It smells like Axion Dishwashing Paste in Lemon. Remember it? I'm not kidding it really does. And as its yellow and gritty it looks like it too. I actually screwed up the guts to apply it and it went on oily and gritty with an overwhelming chemical flavour that had me carefully tissuing it off praying I wouldn't drop dead or that my lips would blister and peel off!

Usually even with lip balms I dislike I'll grit my teeth and just use it up. This one was waging chemical warfare on me. It got binned! So yes if you ever come across this brand avoid it like the plague. The sinister thing is it looks all cute, candy and yummy too. *shudders* Eeeviill....

Want a Carroty-clean Face?

A couple of months back, when bestie Mich was returning from the UK, she was kind enough to ask if I wanted anything from Boots. Note that she asked if I wanted anything, not whether I needed anything.

(C'mon, be honest. Who needs stuff from Boots? Okay, save maybe for John Frieda.)

Anyway, OF COURSE I wanted. And one new product I decided to have a go at was Yes To Carrots Gentle Exfoliating Facial Cleanser. Blended with organic carrot juice, pumpkin, sweet potato, spring water and dead sea minerals, it sounds almost good enough to eat. Almost. Because I've got second thoughts about the dead sea minerals.

Frankly, I wouldn't really call it a cleanser. It's all scrub to me. The product itself feels like light cream, with very fine scrub beads. The beads, while finer than Neutrogena's Deep Clean Gentle Scrub, can still make me go "Uh-oh", should I scrub too hard and too long. A light hand works best here.

I usually use this after a cleanser, and my skin definitely feels squeakier compared with the Deep Clean scrub. But it doesn't cause any tightness or discomfort, so no biggie there.

Pricewise, it's not exactly cheap as I paid about £6.97 (~RM39) for it. I'm not aware if it's available here in Malaysia as this came all the way from ye olde England. So I'm afraid that unless you have a makeup mule... But then again, many brands are slowly becoming available to us here. So one can always hope. If you're desperate, I believe drugstore.com (where you can purchase online) is now also shipping internationally. Only problem is, Singapore is as near as it gets. Sigh.

Anything else I need to tell you? What's that? Whatsit smell like? You reeally wanna go there? Sorry ladies, blocked nose. Really. Hah! Not that it'd have made a difference anyway.

So verdict? I'd say it's a nice to have. While it's lovely to use and a great option when I'm in the mood to stray, I don't feel like I. must. have. it. Especially since it takes so much effort just to get hold of.

Have you tried it? You like?