Sol de Janeiro is going for the boys.
The brand, best known for perennially viral hits like Bum Bum Cream and its $26 Cheirosa hair and body fragrance mists, is entering men’s for the first time with the launch of a Cheiroso franchise.
Featuring two Cheiroso 7 and Cheiroso 10 Cologne Mists, the expansion is the most significant launch for Sol de Janeiro since the brand’s cofounder Heela Yang departed in April, and was succeeded in the chief executive officer role by Jordan Saxemard.
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The launch, aiming to capitalize on the simultaneous momentum of men’s fragrances, body mists and — thanks to the 2026 FIFA World Cup — soccer, will be available direct-to-consumer and on sephora.com beginning Monday. A nationwide store rollout will follow in August.
“Sol de Janeiro has a very clear emotional positioning. It’s about joy, it’s about confidence, it’s about self-expression and the sensorial spirit of Brazil. Cheiroso embodies and carries that forward, but through a new lens for men,” said Saxemard in his first interview as CEO of the brand.
The launch comes at a time when Sol de Janeiro’s soaring growth has begun to moderate, and the key fragrance mist and body care categories it plays in are becoming increasingly crowded — in part with dupes of its own products. The company is still going strong, ranking as a top-five brand by U.S. prestige fragrance sales in April, according to Daash Intelligence, and the number-four beauty brand during June’s Amazon Prime Day sale, per Navigo Marketing — but it is seeking new frontiers of growth.
“We want to keep growing with intention; we want to keep investing in innovation, and we want to keep being the pioneers in everything we do,” said Saxemard. “We believe that men’s fragrance is ready for a new kind of product. Historically the category has been split between traditional deodorants and body sprays on one end, and luxury fine fragrance on the other…Cheiroso was created to bridge that gap.”
Cheiroso 7 and 10 — named after the jersey numbers worn by iconic soccer stars like Neymar Jr., Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — are priced at $26 per 90-ml. bottle. They are fronted by Brazilian actor and pickup soccer enthusiast André Lamoglia, as well as TikTok star Alejandro Rosario, in a campaign shot at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, which is where the inspiration to launch Sol de Janeiro struck Yang more than a decade ago.
“The opportunity to scale our brand identity without diluting it is huge, and Cheiroso is a great expression of the kind of growth we want to pursue from a strategic, consumer-led standpoint that’s still deeply rooted in our brand DNA,” said Saxemard.
The Cheiroso mists will roll out to Sephora Asia and Europe in January. Saxemard did not comment on whether Cheiroso will eventually land at the brand’s other retailers, which include Ulta Beauty, Amazon and, most recently, Urban Outfitters.
“Sephora is our legacy partner, and we wanted to start this incredible journey with them,” said the executive. “For so many young consumers, Sephora is where discovery happens, quite frankly, so bringing Cheiroso into that very fun, playful environment that introduces [customers] to fragrance in a way that feels accessible, premium and connected to the broader beauty culture was important for us.”
It’s a win for Sephora, too, which is similarly looking to bring more men into the fold as they become an increasingly lucrative beauty cohort.
Circana reported in 2024 that men’s fragrances had begun outpacing growth in women’s in the prestige market, and though the most recent figures indicate both categories are now growing at the same rate of 5 percent, they also show that as the fragrance boom continues, affordable fragrances are increasing faster than high-end ones — a key opportunity for Sol de Janeiro.
“[Cheiroso] is about solving a consumer need in a more beautiful way. It’s about performance and pleasure no longer being competing ideas, that you can do both and smell great and at a great price,” said Saxemard.
Sol de Janeiro’s fragrance business has now overtaken its native body care portfolio. The brand overall is key to the portfolio of parent company L’Occitane Group, which was speculated in early 2026 to be weighing a potential U.S. IPO, after having delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2024. Saxemard first joined Sol de Janeiro last fall as global chief marketing and digital officer, following previous stints at Dyson, Sonos and Coty.
In terms of upcoming priorities, the executive shared: “We are hopeful to acquire new customers, that’s number one. We want to turn the love for Sol de Janeiro products — not just fragrances, not just body care — into a full-body routine, and we want to make sure that we’re focusing back on our hero franchises, as well.”
And as for how big a part of the business he anticipates men’s could be?
“We are in it for the long run,” Saxemard said. “We are working on a very robust innovation pipeline, across the board and in men’s, that will take the category to the next level.”
