Something about it seems almost silly. On the shelf at Home Bargains is a bottle of eau de parfum that costs £4.99 and smells like vanilla, almond, and salted caramel. Not a test size. Not a fake with misspelled words on the tag. Many shoppers say that this full 100ml bottle smells a lot like Sol de Janeiro, which has been one of the most talked-about fragrance brands of the past few years.
The item is Glow Eau De Parfum in Vanilla Almond & Salted Caramel, and it was £30 before it was marked down. That’s an 83% discount, which sounds too good to be true until you hold it in your hands. It’s not like Home Bargains is known for selling cult-status copies, but here we are.
The beauty brand Sol de Janeiro, which got its name from Brazil, is known for its warm, fruity scents that are like a mix between a dessert and a beach vacation. Their Brazilian Crush Cheirosa 62 Mist, a vanilla-heavy, slightly nutty scent that costs about £25 a bottle, has become a bit of a social media obsession in the last few years. Thus, when @makeupbyash.x from TikTok went to a Home Bargains, picked up the Glow spray, and said on camera, “It smells the same.” “The smell is the same”—that video clearly found people who were ready to believe it.
It’s interesting how the comparison spread slowly before it went off the rails. Someone commented that they had bought a Glow spray “before the hype,” as if bargain hunters always knew this. Ash said the scent “lasted so well,” which is more important than most people think—most cheap perfumes can’t hide the fact that they don’t last long.
Take a moment to think about what Sol de Janeiro has to offer for the money. Their warmer Cheirosa 71, which has caramelized vanilla, toasted macadamia, and tonka bean, costs about £24 on LookFantastic right now, but new customers can get a huge discount thanks to cashback deals. One reviewer said it was “warm and cozy,” which makes you think of cozy fall evenings in it. Someone else said straight out that they now can’t leave the house without the bigger bottle. These aren’t just empty compliments; Sol de Janeiro has a real fan base because of how well it smells.
Still, you can’t help but notice that the Glow version costs a lot less. Most people who are shopping aren’t really asking if the two are chemically identical, because they probably aren’t. Instead, they’re asking if the two are similar enough in how they feel to matter. It looks like it is for a lot of people.
The Sol de Janeiro sprays have been quietly added to Home Bargains’ shelves. They used to cost £25 each, but are now only £19.99. So there’s a weird layering going on: the original is on one shelf at a discount, and a copy is close by and costs a lot less. It is up to the customer to decide how important the name is to them.
This isn’t a one-off find; the Glow range also has Fresh Peach & Coconut Nectar and Cherry Bomb & Jasmine Blooms, which shows that it’s a planned fragrance line with some thot put into it. It’s less clear if it will last after going viral. Things like these tend to go out of style on shelves just as quickly as they do online.
What stays is the idea, tho: a perfume that smells great doesn’t need a logo to set its price. It’s sometimes just £4.99, and it smells great.
