I had never heard of Coco-Zen before but I got very interested in trying out their lip balm after I had read a great review about their balm. Coco-Zen is actually a chocolate company that produces chocolate treats for consumption as well as treats for the body as well. They also promotes the usage of fair trade cocoa in their products and recyclable packaging materials as a way of promoting fair trade and saving the planet which is really a great concept.
From my initial intention to just try their lip balm, I got stuck at their Lips-To-Go page because it is so much more economical (me trying to convince myself at that time!) to just buy a set of both the lip scrub and the lip balm. After battling with myself, I decided to just go with my guts to get the Lips-To-Go set with the choice of Chocolate Brown Sugar for the Edible Lip Scrub and Chocolate Mint Bliss for the balm. The Chocolate-Lips-To-Go comes in a small green jute pouch. The lip balm is in a sliding tin and the lip scrub is in a round tin tub.
Edible Lip Scrub in Chocolate Brown Sugar
Product description: This edible lip scrub exfoliate and moisturizes lips. It is made from organic brown sugar, organic oils, organic honey and vitamin E and comes in a delicious chocolate taste.
The chocolate lip scrub comes in a round tin jar with a with a screw on lid weighing .50 oz (15 ml). It may seem like a small container but it is really is quite heavy and compact. I really like the vintage look of the label which is a brown recycled paper printed with the product's logo and name. The bottom of the tin jar is pasted with the same vintage brown paper printed with a list of ingredients.
Ingredients: Organic Fair Trade Raw Sugar Cane,
Organic
Fair Trade Brown Sugar, Organic Sweet Almond Oil, Organic Sunflower
Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Olive Oil, Vitamin E, Organic
Chocolate Flavour Oil.
The lip scrub looked very moist when I first opened the jar and I can actually see that the bits of scrubbing particles are but it felt a bit dry when I scooped it out. It has coarse sugar granules and bits of some black seeds (I assume they are bits of crushed cocoa beans). I find that rubbing the lip scrub is better done over a sink as the sugar bits tend to fall off from my fingers and lips. After a few minutes into the scrubbing action, the lip scrub melted a bit which made it easier to scrub the coarse bits on my lips.
A freshly opened tub of lip scrub.
Moist looking chocolatey sugar granules.
A finger scoop of lip scrub.
Very coarse sugar granules.
The lip scrub smelled like chocolate. It tasted really sweet but not too chocolatey, just sugarish. My lips felt soft and smooth after scrubbing but felt a little bit raw from the coarse sugar granules. Overall, I am satisfied with the result as it does what it is supposed to do - which is to scrub the lips.
Chocolate Mint Bliss Lip Balm
Product Description: The chocolate lip balms are flavored with real organic and Fair Trade chocolate and sweetened with a touch of Stevia. While your nose and taste buds dance in chocolate ecstasy, your lips will bathe in moisturizing organic coconut creme and extra virgin olive oil. Scrub your lips with our chocolate edible lip scrub daily and then apply the lip balm for chocolatey, kissable lips.
The lip balm comes in a sliding tin weighing .25 oz (7 g). It has the same brown recycled paper pasted on the lid and the list of ingredients is pasted on the bottom of the tin. The lid slides open smoothly and closes with a click.
The tin of lip balm.
The sliding lid opened.
Ingredients: Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Extra Virgin
Coconut Creme, Organic Beeswax, Organic Fair Trade Certified™ Chocolate,
Vitamin E, Organic Castor Oil, Cocoa Absolute, Organic Flavor Oils,
Stevia.
The lip balm has a soft and buttery
texture and is very easy to pick up once it has adjusted to skin
temperature. Initially it did not apply smoothly but when the balm had
adjusted to body temperature, it applies on smoothly over my lips and
leaves a hint of minty tingle. The balm practically melted into my lips leaving them feeling smooth and soft.
The minty tingle lasted only for a few seconds though. It smells exactly
like chocolate and it tastes almost like the insides of those Smarties
candies, not too sweet but plain chocolatey taste. It goes on a bit chocolatey at first but turns sheer after it has melted and sinks in the lips.
The lip balm swatched on the back of my hand.
My verdict: I love both the lip scrub and the balm. The lip scrub really scrubs off dead skin cells off my lips and the smooth feeling of the balm on the lips after a vigorous scrubbing is just nice. Since these are hard to come by in Malaysia and quite pricey including the shipping cost, I don't think I would be able purchase them again.
You can check out the Coco Zen products at their official website.
Priced at $16.50.
