Bum bum cream is Sol de Janeiro's first product, a guaraná body cream with a pistachio and vanilla scent that made the brand. Here it is with the rest of the Bum Bum line, four other body moisturizers and the Cheirosa scents to layer on top.
Bum Bum Cream and the Pistachio Scent That Built Sol de Janeiro
Heela Yang had spent years as an executive at big beauty companies before she moved from New York to Brazil in 2008, and what struck her there, pregnant at the time, was how at ease Brazilian women were on the beach in tiny bikinis. She founded Sol de Janeiro in 2015 around that feeling, named for the sun of January, the peak of the Brazilian summer. The first product was the bum bum cream, with guaraná extract, cupuaçu butter, açaí oil and coconut oil, and its scent was the risky part: a gourmand pistachio and vanilla instead of the usual floral or citrus. The scent is called Cheirosa 62, after 1962, the year The Girl from Ipanema came out and bossa nova reached Carnegie Hall. It is still the one I would buy first, a rich cream that Sol de Janeiro says leaves skin visibly tighter. The Cheirosa 62 mist launched in 2020 and works on hair too, the Firmeza oil is made to reduce the feeling of puffiness, and the scrub is soft and sandy. Use the scrub twice a week before the cream.
Other creams in the family
Each of the other creams carries its own scent and its own job. Bom Dia Bright uses vitamin C to leave skin looking even, Beija Flor is an elasti-cream with polypeptides and bio-retinol that visibly plumps, and Rosa Charmosa is water-whipped with rosewater for a dewy finish. The Delícia Drench body butter is the thickest, for very dry skin and the winter months. L'Occitane Group bought about 83 percent of the company in 2021, with Yang staying on as CEO, and the range has kept growing in the same direction, scent first. I would pick the cream by the scent you like, since the textures are all easy to wear.
Four more body moisturizers
Bom Dia Bright Visibly Brightening and Smoothing Body Cream with Vitamin C
Sol de Janeiro
$48
Beija Flor Body Collagen-Boosting Elasti-Cream with Polypeptides and Bio-Retinol
Sol de Janeiro
$48
Rosa Charmosa Dewy Body Cream with Rosewater + Crystal Peptides
Sol de Janeiro
$48
Delícia Drench Deeply Moisturizing Body Butter for Dry Skin
Sol de Janeiro
$48
Layering scent, and the skip
The last row is for anyone who wants the scent to last past lunch. The Cheirosa 62 eau de parfum has pistachio, golden sandalwood and warm vanilla, and the jelly balm is a solid stick of the same warm gourmand scent for your bag. The aluminum-free deodorant comes in Cheirosa 62 too, and the Cheirosa 68 perfume mist switches to Brazilian jasmine and vanilla. What I would skip is wearing two different Cheirosa scents at once. They are built to layer within one scent, cream then mist, not across the range. Spray on skin that is still warm from the shower.
The easy way to start
Start with the cream and the matching mist, since the scent is what I fell for first. Add the scrub if your skin is rough, and the butter in winter. Keep the eau de parfum for evenings. It is a body care line that works like a fragrance wardrobe, and it is easy to build slowly. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Sol de Janeiro 71 and the Brand That Names Its Scents After Years in Brazil and Sol de Janeiro Perfume.
