Sol De Janeiro After Hours Can Be a Double-Edged Sword
Sol de Janeiro After Hours Perfume Mist is a new, limited edition Fall 2023 launch that contains notes of midnight jasmine, black currant, and amber woods. As per the brand it’s an “intoxicating, velvety, and amber-floral fragrance invites you to experience the magnetism of an uninhibited evening. Dusk turns to dawn with hypnotic notes of midnight jasmine, black currant, and amber woods.”
This sounded like a perfect Fall fragrance. Something warm, sultry, sensual…perfect for the brisk days of the season. Plus it’s Sol de Janeiro so it has to be unique right? Sadly, After Hours is disappointing to me and it’s also a double-edged sword.
Let’s get into it.
Sol de Janeiro After Hours Perfume Mist arrives in a rather gorgeous navy blue bottle that’s 3.04 oz for $24. I’d like to address the fact that these LE bottles are a bit too small. They should probably either offer them in the larger size or perhaps even both sizes. Because really, if you fall in love with it you’re going to be nursing a really small 3.04 oz bottle for a long time. I rate this scent a 4 out of 5 and it deserves that rating because it smells exactly as promised. It’s beautiful! Very sexy, a bit dark, and quite long-wearing for a Sol de Janeiro fragrance.
The reason I like Sol de Janeiro is because they really know how to bring beautiful gourmands to the table that remind me of Summer, the beach, etc….but lately, they’ve been thinking outside the box. And that’s where things become a double-edged sword. In some ways, you’d expect a brand that’s pigeonholed itself into a “tropical, let’s go to the beach” type of hole would want to expand, grow, and start to offer new and exciting things outside of their “genre” so to speak. On the other hand, the reason you may love the brand is because of what they represent. Fun in the sun, a tropical island, yummy beachy scents! It can be challenging to work yourself out of your type casted role in the beauty world. People will either love you for daring to try something new or really dislike you for it. I personally, sort of, kind of wish that Sol de Janeiro would stay in their lane because I like the lane they were in. I like all those tropical yummy gourmands they do. I’m unsure about scents like After Hours which really strays outside the realms of what the brand normally brings us. But also, I get it. They have to remain relevant. And hey, Sol de Janeiro was stuck at one scent for a very long, long time. It was exciting when they started doing new fragrances.
I didn’t LOVE, love After Hours (but I did like it). As I said it’s a beautiful fragrance but the reason I didn’t love it is because I happen to already own it. It’s basically a lighter version of Flower Bomb (and it has a bit of YSL Black Opium going on too). Does this surprise me? It shouldn’t be considering Sol de Janeiro Beija Flor smells a little bit like Baccarat Rouge 540. But I was surprised nonetheless. I really expected something unique and different from After Hours but first spray and I was like hey, is that you Flower Bomb?
Now, I have a love-and-hate relationship with Flower Bomb. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. It’s a pretty strong, aggressive, and intrusive scent. Flower Bomb goes heavy on the patchouli and that can be harsh to my nose. It’s a note I really don’t love. After Hours drops volume on the patchouli note and this makes it a much lighter version of Flowerbomb. It’s not as aggressive, not as pushing in the door, getting in your face smelling…! It’s much lighter, and much easier to wear.
This fragrance plays heavily with a sugary amber note. I think the note dominates the fragrance and gives it a pretty sweetness! It apparently contains caramel and whipped cream as well but I get straight sugary amber from it and the jasmine playing in the background with that light swirl of patchouli. It wears quite long on me which is a rarity as Sol de Janeiro’s fragrances tend to be shorter wearer. I can get a nice three to four-hour wear from the scent and it lingers on my clothes well after that time.
Sol de Janeiro After Hours isn’t new nor unique by any means to my nose. That was pretty disappointing for me but I will say that I do appreciate the fact Sol de Janeiro is trying hard to give their fanbase what they want. I think we all really enjoy these Fragrance Mist launches. I just hope the brand realizes they need to slow down too and not make it too often a thing because that’s when people grow tired and get bored.
Sol de Janeiro After Hours probably isn’t a must-have but as a fan of the brand I’m glad I purchased it. I’ll absolutely get wear from this but if it was a standard part of their collection I probably wouldn’t re-purchase it. I can’t really say yes you need this or no you don’t. This is one you need to try in-store first before deciding if it’s something you really want. I don’t believe it’s a safe blind buy. Sure, most times Sol de Janeiro is a blind buy for me (heck, this was!) because I know what to expect from them. But after smelling this I’d say it’s probably better if you smell it in stores and decide if it’s a go or not.
Sol de Janeiro After Hours now but only for a limited time.
Have you smelled it? What did you think?