Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Dupes: The Gourmand Creams That Smell (Almost) Identical
Is the $48 orange jar worth its trail, or does a $9 body cream do the job? An honest comparison, from the real dupe to drugstore alternatives.
For everyday use, the Tree Hut Tropic Glow does 90% of the job of the $48 original for about $9. Keep the Sol de Janeiro for the nights you want its scent to carry.
The Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum is the orange jar your entire feed eventually caved and bought. Forty-eight dollars for a body cream — bought almost entirely for a scent. The real question: is that scent worth the price, or do $9 creams smell nearly the same?
What makes the Bum Bum addictive
Let's be honest: nobody buys the Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum for its actives. You buy it for Cheirosa 62 — that warm gourmand of pistachio, salted caramel and vanilla that lingers on skin for hours. The whipped texture sinks in fast, guarana and cupuaçu hydrate, but your regular cream does all that too. What you're paying for is the trail.
“The Bum Bum isn't skincare disguised as perfume. It's perfume disguised as skincare — and that's exactly why it works.”
Once you get that, dupe-hunting gets simple: you're not chasing the same formula, you're chasing the same smell at a third of the price.
The closest dupe: Tree Hut Tropic Glow
If one product earns the dupe title, it's the Tree Hut Tropic Glow. Around $9, it hits the same warm gourmand family — pistachio, amber, sandalwood — with cupuaçu and pistachio oil in the formula, exactly like the original. The whipped texture is uncannily close. It's the only one on this list you can set next to the Bum Bum without the difference jumping out.
The drugstore alternatives
For pure gourmand cocoa, Garnier Body Superfood in cocoa leads: cocoa butter and ceramides, a warm comforting scent that ticks the "dessert on skin" box without the pistachio edge. It's a European drugstore staple, though — hard to find in the US, where the two below are the easier buys.
Nivea Cocoa Butter plays the safe bet, though the big jar is an import in the US at around $25: a quiet cocoa-vanilla, serious hydration, and a note that edges toward the Bum Bum's warm base once it settles. It's the reassuring pick when you want the comfort without the receipt.
Finally, Palmer's Coconut Oil, around $5, goes another direction — creamy, sunny coconut rather than caramel — but shares that nourished, holiday-scented skin feel. Ideal if it's the "beach" version of gourmand that pulls you in rather than the dessert.
What no dupe truly replaces
Let's be fair to the original: no dupe holds the trail as long. Cheirosa 62 is built like a fragrance, with staying power $5 creams simply don't aim for. If you want your scent to fill a room after a night out, the Bum Bum keeps a real edge.
But for the cream you smooth on every morning after the shower, on your legs, without thinking? Paying $48 gets hard to justify when the Tree Hut does 90% of the job. Keep the original for big-night sillage, and let a gourmand dupe live on your nightstand for daily use — your budget and your nose both win. And to make that gourmand scent last, layering a body mist over your cream is the simplest method there is.
