Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Trader Joe’s Dupe for Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Cream and More
Earlier in 2023, I wrote a little article about Trader Joe’s dupe for Mario Badescu’s Coconut Body Butter. I really liked the dupe a bit better and I really liked the lower cost of $6.99 (I’ve also seen it for ($5.99). The Mario Badescu’s body butter went up in cost, like many other beauty brands that have been raising their prices a lot in the past couple of years. Some have gone up as much as 50% higher! Even my mother-in-law told me her foundation recently went up around $20, so she’s done with that product, as many others would be too.
Anytime I find a good dupe for something in the beauty world, I test it out and let my online and in person community know about it. Read on to learn about Trader Joe’s latest dupe for Sol de Janeiro’s Brazilian Bum Bum Cream and more. I’ve also included IP (Intellectual Property) legal information, so you understand why the creams are legally able to smell so similar.
The TJ’s version of Coconut Body Buter is a great dupe
If I find more dupes at Trader Joe’s, I’ll update this article. For today, I want to talk about their Bum Bum Cream dupe and their Cremo Shave Cream dupe. Trader Joe’s has been around for a long while and I’ve liked seeing them evolve into being a value-based grocery that is slowly adding more and more amazing products.
Get my 1-minute video review below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
The first Trader Joe’s I went to was in Washington DC many, many years ago. I remember buying some wine there from the brand Charles Shaw and it was around $2. Trader Joe’s customers called it “Two Buck Chuck” and it was actually pretty good. This article by LA List talks about the wine and a taste test they did with Trader Joe’s and Aldi wine. Some liked it and some didn’t. I’m not a wine connoisseur, so I liked the Trader Joe’s wine just fine.
I love the pretty, summery packaging!
Even with inflation being all over the place for many retail products, they have kept this low-cost wine around, though it has gone up slightly (It’s more like almost Four Buck Chuck now). When costs on food go up slightly over many, many years as this wine did, I understand, as farmers need to compensate for their own price increases on their supplies, however, when prices go up 50% all of the sudden on some items, it makes me think.
I’ve even turned to Aldi to find some food and home items that I like in order to find a better price. Check out the $22 Aldi version of the $100+ Bogg bag in my article by clicking here. I go through body butter a lot as I have fairly dry skin. When I found the Trader Joe’s dupe of Mario Badescu’s Coconut Body Butter, I loved it and wrote an article about it and made a video. Check out the video below or on my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden.
When I walked into my Trader Joe’s store in late May 2024 and was welcomed by a stack of pink and yellow containers that said Brazil Nut Body Butter, I was thrilled they had a new scent. I smelled it and couldn’t figure out what it was a dupe for at first. Then I remembered my obsession over Sol de Janeiro’s Brazillian Bum Bum Cream in 2020 and I knew it was a dupe for this scent. I had the body spray, the body wash and the Bum Bum Cream (it’s a thick lotion) and loved it.
The TJ Brazil Nut cream smells delicous
Anytime I smell the Bum Bum Cream scent, it reminds me of our move to Sanibel, Florida in 2020. I love a good scent memory. I will often select scents to wear for big wonderful moments in my life, and then, later on, when I smell this scent, it takes me back to that wonderful moment. For my wedding, I chose GLOW by Jennifer Lopez perfume and whenever I smell that now, it reminds me of my happy day of marrying my best friend, Tommy. I still like it and wear it.
The Trader Joe body butter makes my skin hydrated and smooth
The Trader Joe’s version of Brazillian Bum Bum Cream, Brazil Nut Body Butter, smells exactly the same. It is sweet, and says it has the “signature salted-caramel-meets-pistachio scent”. I stopped buying the Sol de Janeiro version when I just couldn’t wrap my brain around paying $48 for eight ounces of a lotion. I don’t even remember it being that high in 2020.
I’ve also seen “dupes” for Bum Bum Cream on Amazon (here) and on TEMU (link to TEMU here and search “Bum Cream” and you should be able to find it…if you are a new app user on TEMU you can use my discount code afe55197 to get 30% off) but cannot speak to them being good dupes or not as I have not tested them as they are not marked as being cruelty free.
It claimed to visibly tighten and firm due to the Guarana extract, but I knew that I’d have to keep using it for that effect to keep going and I just couldn’t do it. I stopped buying it, but still used the body spray, as it lasted longer and was much less expensive.
After a talk with an IP lawyer (Intellectual Property) a while ago, I learned that you cannot trademark scents, so this is why Trader Joe’s can scent their product this way. I also learned you cannot trademark recipes. Ah….the law is interesting. While the consistency and ingredients are not exactly the same as the Bum Bum Cream, Trader Joe’s version is extremely moisturizing, smells delicious and lasts!
The cream also has Guarana extract (high in caffeine, known to firm skin) like the Sol de Janeiro’s version, but only time will tell if this firming will occur. At $5.99, I could keep buying it (so long as it’s in stock) to keep the firming going if I notice it happening. The scent alone, is worth purchasing it though.
The Trader Joe dupe for Cremo Shave Cream
At my local Trader Joe’s, I grabbed the Brazil Nut Body Butter for $5.99 for 8 ounces. This is a bargain compared to the Sol de Janeiro. It may be slightly higher in price at your local Trader Joe’s, as prices sometimes vary by state, but shouldn’t be much more than $6.99. The website says its limited edition, so if you read this article and decide the cream is for you, grab it before it’s gone! I hope big sales help them keep it in stock (numbers talk). I like that they make their products be cruelty free too.
Cremo is good, but Trader Joe’s prices are better
They also had a matching scrub and a body wash, which I will be buying next. While I was there, I browsed more of their beauty products and found a tube of shaving cream that looked like the Coconut Mango Cremo Shave Cream I had used and liked in the past. It was Honey Mango scented, similar to my old tube of Cremo. I stopped buying Cremo when they raised their prices too in 2023/2024. I still have one tube that I grabbed before it when up in price.
The price increases seemed to happen when they changed the packaging. Guess they wanted to make it look more “high end” and customers paid for this in the price hike. I tried several other brands of shave cream, but really liked Cremo.
I tested the Trader Joe’s version and it isn’t exactly the same consistency of Cremo, but the Honey Mango scent is very similar. I actually like the consistency of the Trader Joe’s version, so I have now ditched all my other shave creams, and will buy the Trader Joe’s version. At $4.49, it will keep me buying it, as the Cremo version is currently around $7.57. Again, numbers talk, especially when it comes to money savings.
If you find dupes for products you love, let us know in the comments below. We love trying new products and continue to work to find affordable products that are just as luxurious as the higher-end versions.
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.