Carrot seed oil comes from the seed of wild carrot, a different plant from the orange root in the shops. It smells earthy, dry and faintly sweet, more like a root cellar than a vegetable. Carotol makes up between two fifths and seven tenths of it, and does most of the work.^[1] In lab tests the oil held back Candida and the fungi behind athlete's foot at low concentrations, and bacteria of both main types.^[2] Cosmetic emulsions built on it showed cell-protecting activity and a measurable sun protection factor, which is why it turns up in skincare.^[3]