A one-star Sephora review for Sol de Janeiro’s Delícia Drench Body Butter recently ignited an unusual flurry of rumors: does the scent of the skincare product attract wolf spiders?

The Review that Went Viral

The product review, which was posted on December 24^th, claimed that Delícia is “like kryptonite to wolf spiders… Normally I’ll see one every like 3 years, used this and it was every day.”
 
“Oh and one time, the spider wanted to eat whatever ingredient it is so bad that it chased me,” the user added. “I swear on everything. I’d run left, it ran left, I ran right, it ran right. Like it was legit following the scent.”
 
The user concluded, “So yeah, do be careful if you’re frightened of spiders, especially the big wolf ones.”
 
The attention-grabbing allegation quickly went viral—and made its way to reddit where one user suggested that two chemicals sometimes found in skincare products, farnesyl acetate and hexadecyl acetate, could cause the arachnid attraction.
 
This seemed like a plausible explanation, but as it turns out, the theory does not hold up to scrutiny.

Evidence to the Contrary

Sol de Janeiro, which is a L’Occitane brand, debunked this claim in an Instagram story posted on Friday.
 
“We didn’t think we’d wrap 2023 becoming an urban legend,” the brand said. “All of our products, including the new Delicia Drench Body Butter and upcoming Cheirosa 59 perfume mist, are free from fornesyl acetate, diisobutyl phthalate and hexadecyl acetate.”
 
“So, while they may attract a lot of attention from people, they won’t from arachnids (even though we love all creatures at Sol de Janeiro),” the post added.
 
Sol de Janeiro also commented on TikTok videos that contain the claims, saying that “of course this rumor is untrue!”
 
Furthermore, Catherine Scott, a spider behavioral ecologist and postdoctoral fellow at McGill University’s Lyman Lab, told TechCrunch that wolf spider mating involves more than just scents—visual and vibratory signaling are also involved.
 
“They have excellent vision (for spiders) and they would not simply run toward the source of an odor, even if it did smell like a potential mate, unless it also looked like a spider,” Scott said.
 
Despite some continued skepticism from people online, it seems the issue has been put to rest and we have a definitive answer: no, Delícia Drench Body Butter does not attract spiders.
 
And, as of Wednesday, the review that sparked the frenzy has been deleted from Sephora’s website.

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