My most complimented perfume is the most affordable in my collection and it’s more of a body spray than a perfume. I picked it up at Sephora before a vacation with my bestie, June, in Portugal. I wanted a scent that would allow me to savor the moment. Something new to me that would always conjure back to our girls trip. Checking for carry-on safe sizes (90ml or less), I snagged the body mist for $25 alongside a new lipgloss, SuperGoop Glow screen, and coconut face wipes. I made sure to spray my clothes in my carry-on to marinate during the flight.
The goals for this trip: girl time, garlic shrimp, and getting tan. In a small fishing town called Faro in the south of Portugal, June and I roamed around in the sun, ate SO MUCH garlic shrimp and some gazpacho with ice cubes in it. Trouncing around with my friend who makes me feel the most like myself, I felt like we were radiating. My body mist was pronounced and engulfed us in a cloud of toasted macadamia nuts, amber, white chocolate, and sea salt. Sol de Janiero’s ‘Brazilian Crush Cheirosa 71 Perfume Mist’ feels like getting a spray tan before vacation giving you an even, obvious glow. It’s a bucket of caramel popcorn on the boardwalk. Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely delicious. This is the gourmand to get you into gourmands.
On our last full day in Portugal, June and I had decided to test the waters by going on a cave excursion in the Algarve region. In a guided group, we were going to boogie board from the beach into the cave and back. That morning, I had doused myself in Cheirosa 71, but as I stepped into a damp and sandy communal wet suit, I was less than confident that I would be emanating my same memory-saving travel scent. At the front of the pack, we befriended our guide, chatting mostly about all the garlic shrimp we had consumed during our brief trip and the ex-pat dive bar we had found in the small town of Faro. We were handed boogie boards and we hit the water, pushing against the current to get to the cave. Our guide pulled me alongside him when I was on the verge of giving myself over to the ocean. Finally we made it and it was stunning. June and I unzipped the wetsuits and pulled them halfway down so they were sitting around our hips. In this moment, the guide whirls around and gasps, “You smell incredible. It’s intoxicating. Are you wearing perfume?” I was shocked and said, casually, “Yes it’s a body spray.” But he couldn’t possibly smell that fragrance I had sprayed hours ago, before the wetsuit, before the swimming and the sweating! He leaned over and smelled the wetsuit around my hips. “Oh yeah, it smells delicious.” June and I held back our laughter, but I was proud that my gourmand girls trip fragrance had this power over this man. He then turned into our cinematographer, recording videos with avant-garde camera movements, instructing us on our blocking and hyping us up, then asking us to tag his business in the post.
I wear Cheirosa 71 now when I want to smell yummy and toasty like the caramel macadamia nut at its heart. I wear it when I want to feel like I’m on vacation without a care in the world. I also wear it on movie nights because it pairs perfectly with popcorn. And while I wish it brought back the exact feeling of being in the sun, talking about gossip and dreams and heartbreaks with my best friend who I don’t get to see enough, the scent mostly just reminds me of the time I had just hopped out of the ocean and a man sniffed my crotch and told me I smelled delicious…
A testament to the power of Euro summer girl vibes and Sol de Janiero’s Cheirosa 71.