Cheirosa '39

Coco Cabana Cheirosa '39

Sol de Janeiro 2019

This scent has changed so much since settled that I had to go delete my original statement to write this, because MAN do I have opinions on it now. This is delicious. I don't care for most Sol de Janeiro scents, because way too many of them run juvinile or way too sweet on me. This? This is delicious, but I don't even think Sol de Janeiro knows they've accidentally perfectly recreated the scent of several Vietnamese desserts I grew up eating.

The opening is a very thick, sweet coconut cream. I'm not talking milk or water, this is full-on cream. It is creamy, enveloping, warm, and absolutely delectable. However, it's not so heavy that you cannot pick up on the heart and base. Thoroughly impressive that it is.

As that top goes away, it still runs creamy because of the sandalwood to my nose. Vanilla brings sweetness, and the orchid actually reminds me of the floral aspects in a very good vanilla paste, so you smell like a very well-flavored dessert when it comes to the praline. I find I lose all caramelized notes on my skin, though, so the praline smells very blonde.

Somehow, though, all of these notes combine to form how pandan smells in both banh bo nuong and banh da lon. When you add coconut cream to these pandan-flavored tapioca based desserts, you get something very sweet and baked, with coconut cream greatly masking the grassier notes of pandan (this makes it smell more vanillic and sweet, but amplifies the coconut aspect in both the cream and itself). I could not believe it when I smelt it, but it smells like if you cooked both of those at the same time. The brown bits of banh bo nuong resemble the praline, and the lighter sweetness coming from banh da lon. It broke my brain when I first smelt this, but I LOVE it.

Weirdly enough, I think this is a must-try if you want to smell like an Asian dessert. This is such a fun gourmand with mass appeal, but sentimental value to the right people. She's in Sephora and Ulta too, so you can test this out for yourself and see what you think! I know I'm about to get myself a jumbo and the lotion to surprise my mom later this month.

Update: Ok I decluttered this and I just want to say like... it has this plastic-ness to it that makes me not want to wear it. Like not in a cute doll-head way, like plastic. Kinda bitter and metallic-ish... plastic-ey.

On initial spray it's a creamy coconut somewhere between coconut ice cream and sunscreen. Then it settles. I've heard two comparisons that I both agree with: the overall scent gives the impression of both a.) plain movie theatre popcorn, and b.) the white chocolate macadamia cookies from Subway (side note: wow those are good, the best option imo). Nice. It also has an edge to it that's like soft-salty playdoh and/or the plastic-ness to sunscreen. But it's not as unwearable as all that might make it seem... It's softttt, honestly not an intense gourmand or anything at all, fluffy/light in the sense it feels like a cloud/aura when you're wearing it.
It's such a great dumb reach, and I like the color lol. I just like how it smells, not much more to say than that. And nobody else getting a whiff of you is probably gonna think anything other than "hmm that smells pleasant"... I looove when a scent is just an effortless throw-on.

Sweet lil coconutty treat, but it does have a touch of that lingering beachy synthetic smell that I was hoping wouldn't be there. The opening is really pleasant and sweet, made me excited that I was able to get my hands on the rerelease! Unfortunately, the longer I wear it, the more oddly salty and plasticky it gets.

I remember when SDJ's only products were the Bum Bum Cream and the lotion version of this, and I'm glad they brought the body spray back because this stuff is good. It's a very sweet and creamy coconut and now that others mention it I do pick up on a bit of a popcorn note. This is definitely on the more basic side but I've said it before and I'll say it again: basic does not inherently mean bad. This would be good for experimenting with layering combos.

Someone once told me this smells like movie theatre popcorn, and it does-it's truly uncanny! It is not necessarily a bad scent, but it's a linear, sweet, milky coconut without too much nuance. Performance is not great, but it works for a hot day at the beach or as a simple Floridian vacation scent.