Founded in 2015, Sol de Janeiro has rapidly transformed from a niche beauty label into an industry powerhouse, capturing the attention of a new generation of consumers much like previous decades’ defining brands. While millennials embraced the company’s signature $48 Brazilian Bum Bum Cream after its launch, tweens and teens have driven a modern craze for the brand’s $39 Cheirosa perfume mists, which debuted in 2020 and quickly became staples of shopping hauls and social media feeds.
The brand’s financial footprint underscores its market dominance. According to a fiscal year report from parent company L’Occitane Group, Sol de Janeiro accounted for 31.6 percent of the group’s total sales. The report further positioned the brand as the top beauty brand at Sephora North America and the leading fragrance brand on Amazon US during that period.
Driving much of this consumer engagement are specific scents within the Cheirosa line, with the brand confirming that its three most popular formulations are Cheirosa 62, 40, and 68. Individual experiences with the mists vary depending on personal skin chemistry, wearability, and scent profiles, leading fragrance enthusiasts to evaluate the collection across distinct aromatic notes and staying power.
Among the lineup, Cheirosa 71 draws inspiration from Brazil’s Confeitaria Colombo bakery, featuring notes of caramelized vanilla, toasted macadamia nut, sea salt, white chocolate, and tonka bean. While designed to evoke sweet treats, the fragrance often reads to wearers as a gingerbread cookie or graham cracker drizzled with caramel, though some critics detect associations closer to holiday hand sanitizers or buttered popcorn. Reviewers often note that its intense sweetness makes it feel heavy for all-day wear.
Cheirosa 62 remains the brand’s most famous scent, tying directly to the legacy of the Brazilian Bum Bum Cream. Inspired by Brazil in 1962—the year “The Girl from Ipanema” was written—the fragrance blends pistachio, almonds, heliotrope flower, jasmine petals, vanilla, salted caramel, and sandalwood. While widely praised as capturing the essence of summer, some users find its distinct profile seasonally limited to warmer months rather than serving as an everyday year-round option.
Other iterations offer different sensory profiles. Cheirosa 39, designed to evoke a relaxed beach atmosphere, incorporates notes of coconut cream, toasted vanilla, tropical orchid, sandalwood, and praline. On certain skin chemistries, the initial application develops unexpected buttery nuances before settling into coconut and vanilla tones with lingering florals. Meanwhile, Cheirosa 48 draws inspiration from the introduction of the bikini in Brazil in 1948, blending guava nectar, coconut water, orchid, lemon, wild orris, pink musk, and vanilla to create a refreshing poolside profile backed by versatile musk notes suitable for continuous rotation.
