Hey big spender, how about a bottle of Baccarat Rouge 540 for 3,000 euros? I didn’t think so. It’s a gorgeous bottle, quilted with light-shifting facets, something that would be right at home on Rita Hayworth’s dressing table. But, good grief. For that kind of money, I’d expect it to get up and shake martinis.
Okay, how about this? Swap out the bottle and put the perfumer, Francis Kurkdjian, on the label, and it’s a mere $300 for 70 ml. Now we’re talking.
Baccarat Rouge 540 was first released last year as a Baccarat exclusive, then offered this year as part of Maison Francis Kurkdjian. The fragrance is the same. Kurkdjian lists the notes simply as jasmine, saffron, ambergris and cedar. I like Baccarat’s list of notes, which feels spot-on: blood orange, ambergris, cedar, oak moss, lavender and sage. Kurkjian classifies it as a woody-floral. To me, Baccarat Rouge 540 is a strange amalgam, at times gourmand or woody floral or fougère.
Baccarat Rouge opens sticky sweet, like sucking on a high-end blood orange Jolly Rancher. At first, the sugar put me off. Too sugared. But the texture, with salty amber and effervescent jasmine intrigued me. After a moment, the jasmine steps up its volume, and raw cedar — not so much as to recall the woodpile, but just enough to give the fragrance a definite woody feel — takes over Baccarat Rouge’s heart. Sure, it’s still sweet, but the round, scratchy, fizzy texture is interesting enough to keep me engaged.
Humming under the sweet jasmine-cedar heart is, at first, the idea of the ocean. It’s salty and clean and fresh. Then it veers scarily toward the calone-soaked Calvin Klein Escape (maybe the sweet orange plus lavender?) before righting itself into a sweet citrus fougère. As the jasmine fades a few hours later (ta-ta lovely jasmine!) Baccarat Rouge smells more traditionally masculine, although more Scarlet Pimpernel than Chuck Norris.
What I like about Baccarat Rouge is how it feels simple — sugar orange, jasmine, cedar, lavender — but how it queerly shifts its texture and approach as it wears on skin. The transitions could be four different short stories that somehow make sense when read in order. The stories are Blood Orange Syrup, Orange-Jasmine-Cedar, Jasmine-Cedar-Ocean, and Lavender-Sage. Each story could be its own perfume, but they work as a whole.
My guess is that not a lot of people will love Baccarat Rouge 540. Its turn of sweet to woody-floral to fougère might put people off, no matter how fascinating the textural changes. I’m not sure I’d wear it much if I had a bottle. But it sure is fun to sample.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum is $300 for 70 ml. For information on where to buy it, see Maison Francis Kurkdjian under Perfume Houses.
I bought you this instead of a ring. Marry me?
You might get a yes from some folks with the Baccarat bottle!
Em, *this* is a persuasive Baccarat bottle….
http://www.amazon.com/Annick-Goutal-Jamais-Baccarat-Crystal/dp/B004FR398Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
It comes with its own altar!
Holy smokes. That really *is* a persuasive bottle.
I don’t know why everything doesn’t come packaged like that. Eggs, celery, socks, …
Will never forget this Hairpin article for the writer who mentions how instead of an engagement ring, she got an engagement horse: http://thehairpin.com/2012/08/ask-ladies-about-engagement-rings/
Can imagine there are some of us here who’d gladly accept an engagement perfume! 😉
What does it mean when the horse dies (or perfume is used up, I guess)? Maybe another horse.
I know–or for that matter, horses are not like dogs, one doesn’t even necessarily keep a horse for its whole lifespan! What if you need to sell your engagement horse?! It is a lot of pressure. But, I’m pretty indifferent to jewelry so I’d still take the tradeoff I think 🙂
Well, a horse is a lot more fun than a ring.
I’d wager that I would like this one! I like sweets….but only sweets that are interesting! 🙂
Like I said, it was fun to try–if you even get the chance to sample it, go for it! For sweetness these days, Amouage Journey Woman is filling the ticket.
I’m all about sampling…..almost NEVER about full bottles! LOL Limited budget = fun with samples!
Will have to try both of these, next time I get an itch to hit up Luckyscent! 🙂
I love how you make a great thing out of a limited budget!
So nice to find another person who loves Journey Woman. One of my favorites. I hope for my wallets sake, that JW will be the last FB I will buy.
I should clarify-from the house of Amouage, not last full bottle ever! HA
Hahahaha my heart stopped for a second there!
Whew! Good save.
I found it online at a hefty discount. It’s good to know they’re out there if an Amouage takes you by the neck.
This has got to be one of the most fascinating releases to me, not (I’m sorry to say) because I think the juice is very good but because people seem to have such widely varying experiences with it! How very curious! So… for whatever my data point can be worth, I’ll say I didn’t get ANY of this evolution, nor did it seem so very sugary at the top–I find it lightly sweet throughout, a consistent (linear) and pleasing if mildly unremarkable, barely-there jasmine-cedar fragrance, and after about three hours it was gone. I’d initially focused on the weight of Baccarat crystal + the deep red hue of the label, and felt very disappointed the juice didn’t have heft to match–but having now seen a video emphasizing the “crystalline” quality, I can see the connection better and am willing to say wearing it was reasonably enjoyable. Maybe would do again if I owned a bottle, but that will certainly not come to pass!
You didn’t get all that lavender and sage in the dry down? It sounds like I had a better experience with it. (I should add that I dabbed it from a sample vial, not sprayed it, if that makes a difference.)
I mean now I want to give it a second test! And I did spray so maybe that accounts for some of the difference… but in any case yeah in my spray test, it just did its sheer jasmine-cedar thing for a while, and then it was gone. It’s mysterious. I’ve also heard others find it MUCH sweeter than I do, and/or, find it gone completely in 30 minutes! Curiouser and curiouser… 😉
I’m constantly amazed at what one person’s skin can do to a fragrance compared to someone else’s skin, too.
It has been so fun to finally have some local perfumista friends because watching–smelling–this in action in side-by-side tests is wild.
I love my perfumista friends, too.
I’ve seen the marketing but paid scant attention and assumed it was a rose fragrance. Wrongetty wrong, I now find. Any idea what the ‘540’ is about?
Evidently it is the temperature in degrees centigrade required to achieve the signature red in Baccarat crystal! (Personally I did not know until now Baccarat had a signature red but there you are.) I guess the bottles of the perfume that are actually Baccarat crystal came with a pipette in this red. More details here: http://us.baccarat.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-bct_us-Site/en_US/HubPage-WOB?cid=parfum_celebration
It does seem like rather a stretch when the perfume is sold… not in a Baccarat bottle. But what do I know.
Thank you for the info! I had no idea there was a signature Baccarat red, either.
Thanks, that’s a lovely film. Glass making is wonderful to watch. I had to smile at this though:
“As a tribute to the illustrious House colour, a red crystal pipette is provided with each bottle to place a few precious drops of this legendary perfume behind the ears.”
Behind the ears? I’d be a danger to myself with that pipette, poking myself in the ear every time.
It doesn’t really feel like a “behind the ears” fragrance, either, if you know what I mean. It’s more a “spray after shower” short of thing.
I figured it was a rose, too! It’s definitely not rose.
I generally do well with FK’s stuff… but I Don’t Do Fougere. (I like them, just not on ME. Feels like wearing Y-fronts, without the proper equipment for them.)
Hilarious!
My thoughts exactly and could not have explained it so eloquently!
Agreed!
The Baccarat price is like a downpayment on a small house or apartment here in PDX! Yikes!
I already have a Jolly Rancher like scent ! It’s called Wasabi+Pear Body and Soul spray. It smells like a mouthwatering candy, with a sort of salt skin finish. It’s fresh.
…And I bet it’s not $3,000.
Oh, friend I think I paid like $13 for it at TJ Maxx in Beaverton. I am kicking myself for mot buying two!
That’s a heck of a deal.
I’m late, but wanted to say that this sounds fascinating. Will definitely give it a go.
I’d love to know what you think of it!
I don’t find the sweetness on me even though I’m searching for it. On my skin it begins smelling medicinal (like Betadine I think) and (dirty gray) salt air. I’m 3 hours in without a real change to this profile. I’m enjoying it very much.
Fabulous! And it’s much more affordable these days than in the Baccarat bottle.
And even more affordable in the decant vial!
Cheers
Hurray for decants!
Initially, I abhorred what I (affectionately) coined the cotton candy, cigarette smoke, bacon, leather perfume…
I was given a sample in a birthday package, and since the contents were to be shared between me and my Mother, I opted out of this sample in particular and chose Amethyst… I did spritz my wrist lightly with 540, but just couldn’t get down with it.
Hours later, probably 5, I couldn’t remove my nose from my wrist. I still didn’t love the 540… but I was already strangely addicted to punishing myself with it. Fast forward to today and I find that I have begun to hoard the tiny sample bottles… for shame… I have fallen head over heels for this fragrance and I still don’t know why… it’s sweet and sticky, it’s tanned animal flesh, and greasy fried pig belly, it is late nights at a bar, and a croupey smoker’s cough, and I LOVE IT! I’m Hillary, and I’m a 540 user… don’t judge me. We all have our vices.
I’ll never judge you for falling for a perfume that mystifies you! That’s one of the most rewarding things about perfumistahood: finding love and intrigue from a scent that isn’t pretty.
one of the sales team at Harvey Nichols introduced me to this line today. they told Francis Kurkdjian is the creator of Juliette Has A Gun perfumes, of which I’m also a fan. so far rouge 540 is the only one of Kurkdjian’s own line that I’ve sniffed, but by God did I fall for it, absolutely head over heels! and then it broke my heart when I saw the price :'( so I wondered if anybody knows of other sweet and interesting gourmand perfumes similar to this for a more reasonable price? at the moment I couldn’t stomach paying nearly £200 for 70ml
I hope someone chimes in with an answer, but in the meantime I hope you’re able to buy a decant of it somewhere! It’s heartbreaking to fall in love with a perfume outside your budget.
thanks, Angela 🙂 this literally smells perfect to me, like liquid gold. so I may come round from my shock and start saving for a bottle.
Ariana Grande’s newest, Cloud, smells incredibly similar to BR 540. Couldn’t get over it when I tested Cloud at local Ulta. Closest main-stream dupe on the market. $60 USD for 100ml.
Nice tip! I haven’t smelled that one yet.