Costa Brazil Adds Breu and Capim Dourado to Its Scent Wardrobe

Francisco Costa's label launches two new fragrances on November 10. Capim Dourado reads warm, spicy and earthy, and early sniffers already have a favourite.

Costa Brazil has been quietly building a following with one eau de parfum, and on November 10 it stops being a one-act show. The label is launching two new Costa Brazil fragrances, Breu and Capim Dourado, and the fragrance crowd has already started comparing notes.

The news went up on Fragrantica’s front page, where Breu and Capim Dourado now share the billing. For a house that has kept its fragrance shelf deliberately short, two arrivals at once is a statement of intent.

A designer’s side project that kept growing

Costa Brazil was founded in 2018 by Francisco Costa, a former fashion designer, which explains why the brand’s products tend to look as considered as a well-cut jacket. The house’s first fragrance, Aroma, arrived in 2022 and landed on Fragrantica as a candidate for best fragrance of that year. It has been the one to beat in the line ever since.

Aroma was built with perfumer Frank Voelkl, whom Costa Brazil describes as the creator of several cult fragrances. In a conversation with Costa filmed for the brand, Voelkl laid out his philosophy plainly: fragrance has a function, and part of it is to soothe, to “make you feel good, make you feel comfortable.” That is a useful lens for anyone approaching the new pair. This is a house that treats scent as a mood you wear rather than a performance you give.

Breu has a history with the brand, too. When a customer asked why Breu had been removed from Aroma, Costa Brazil answered that the formula and ingredients had not changed since launch. Whatever the name means to the house, it has been part of the conversation for a while, and now it gets a bottle of its own.

Capim Dourado, on paper and on skin

Of the two, Capim Dourado is the one with a public profile so far. Fragrantica lists it for women and men and sorts its main accords into a tidy, slightly unexpected bouquet: aromatic, warm spicy, woody, fresh spicy, musky, powdery, citrus and earthy. Read in that order, it suggests something that starts herbal and bright, settles into a warm, dry-spiced middle, and keeps its feet on the ground.

That earthy streak is what won over one Fragrantica reader, who tried both fragrances at the Costa Brazil store in Hudson Yards. The verdict: both were good, both better than the brand’s current release, and Capim Dourado the winner. What did it for them was the combination of earthy and vetiver-forward character, which they called unique. It’s one person’s nose, and it’s a single visit to a shop, but it’s the sort of early reaction that makes a launch worth circling on the calendar.

Why this pairing makes sense

Costa Brazil built its reputation on botanical, spa-like warmth. The brand’s own talk of “olfactory magic” points to a house more interested in atmosphere than in spectacle. Fragrantica’s commenters seem to expect the same: one wrote of anticipating something rich in botanical naturals, almost spa-like, from a fan of Aroma. A second and third scent in that spirit gives the line range without asking it to change character.

There’s also the practical pleasure of a wardrobe. A single signature scent is a uniform; two or three starts to look like a collection, the way a designer’s debut piece becomes a capsule. Costa spent his earlier career making clothes, and the instinct to build out a range with a clear point of view carries over neatly.

The timing helps. November is when people start thinking about warmer, drier, spicier things, and an accord list that leans on warm spice, wood and earth fits the season without trying too hard. Add the citrus and the musky, powdery finish, and the mood is closer to a freshly pressed linen shirt by a fire than to a heavy winter perfume.

Both Breu and Capim Dourado reach the market on November 10. If you’re in New York, the Hudson Yards store is where at least one fan got an early sniff, which is as good a starting point as any.

Via Fragrantica