Why Everyone’s Obsessed with Sol de Janeiro
June 26 | 4 minute read
Words by Izzy Wight
It’s been 10 years since the words ‘Bum Bum’ first entered the beauty vernacular. Now, Sol de Janeiro – and its very famous body cream – are household names, with bathroom shelves across the world dotted with the brand’s colourful mists, lotions and oils.
With a tub of Bum Bum Cream sold every four seconds, there’s no underestimating our feverish obsession with Sol de Janeiro’s Brazilian-inspired body care. From scents that get people “stopped in the street” to the oils that got a new generation on board with body shimmer, it’s playful, feel-good beauty at its very best.
"People were rubbing creams and oils on their bodies and hair, then jumping in the ocean and rubbing on something else,” Yang told MECCA when the brand first launched. “There was music and food, and no one cared that I was pregnant or Asian with pale skin. I felt a sense of complete acceptance. It was so liberating."
It was this spirit – of self-love, empowerment and pure joy – that inspired her first product, the iconic Bum Bum Cream. With firming caffeine-rich guarana extract and a cocktail of nourishing cupuaçu butter, acai oil and coconut oil, it was originally intended as a posterior pick-me-up – but was too good not to use everywhere else.
“Using an addictive, edible gourmand fragrance in luxury cream rather than the typical floral or citrus-forward profile, was a very out-of-the-box choice,” the brand tells The MECCA Memo. In addition to Bum Bum’s skin-smoothing benefits, customers were clamouring for its delectable salted-caramel-pistachio scent – a fragrance that became Sol de Janeiro’s first Cheirosa.
A Brazilian Portuguese term, cheirosa means ‘to smell absolutely delicious’ – very apt, considering the almost-edible quality of the brand’s signature scents. The ‘Bum Bum fragrance’ was named Cheirosa 62, with its successors like Cheirosa 40 (plum, jasmine and musk) and 68 (dragon fruit, lychee and vanilla) holding the same addictive, nostalgic quality.
The blissful, sun-soaked beaches and rhythm-filled cityscapes of Brazil will always remain at the heart of the Sol de Janeiro brand. Each fragrance speaks to a moment in the country’s rich cultural history: Cheirosa 48 is inspired by 1948, when the Brazilian bikini first made its debut; while Cheirosa 59 captures the essence of 1959, when João Gilberto released his iconic bossa nova album, Chega de Saudade.
“Brazilian inspired ingredients and mood boosting scents are now the backbone of every product in our portfolio,” the brand says. “Sol de Janeiro is so thrilled to continue to bring the positive power of Brazilian beauty to consumers across the globe.”
