Baccarat Rouge 540 Maison Francis Kurkdjian for women and men

I'll admit that I didn't really love it at first, but this is slowly growing on me. I think the popularity also threw me off initially, but all that doesn't matter to me anymore haha, it's an amazing scent!

IT SMELLS OF HOSPITAL AND MEDICINE

stunning masterpiece. unlike other fragrances from MFK..

Spicy, hot, and a little sweet. It's very nice but it didn't wow me. A good fragrance, but it's kind of hard to justify the price. Unless you're a die-hard luxury fan you might as well just buy Cloud.

Great masculine or non binary option.

I salute the women that can pull this off - but unless your skin chemistry blends lusciously well with this scent, it can have a remarkably manly expression.
If vintage Opium from YSL works wonders for you, you'll probably appreciate this, too.

Not a safe blind buy

I don't understand how this is so popular, esp at this price. BR is a total snoozefest. Great notes - for a start; but it could be beautiful, if it opened up and had some more spicy notes. It feels as though it never gets off the ground. It's such a dull background hum. This fragrance is what department stores smell like. This is like the kid siting on the edge of the pool with a new swimsuit, best goggles, and high tech fins - but he won't jump in. It's like trying to have an orgasm drunk- getting close, but falls flat. It's like the beautiful sports car that won't start. If you love it, just buy one of the cheaper knockoffs. It will be just as "good."

Definitely one of the best scent out there but much like Eros and Creed, it's bound to get the too common to care about.

Baccarat started out as a very unique woody sweet fragrance that none of us had smelled before. Now it paints a picture when I smell it, it’s a symbol of luxury. It’s early in the morning at Starbucks, a well dressed woman jumps out of her Range Rover , dressed in a black dress and heels , leaving the scent of Baccarat trailing miles behind her. That’s now the impression it gives me. A well dressed business man or women, wealthy and leaving behind a magical scent trail.

i dont understand the hate.When i bought this it was fenomenal it van flashbang your nose but i smelled it on my friends when i sprayed with my bottle.İt was sweeet cotton candy and woody,but unfortunately this has the popularity of dior sauvage i think thats why its hated,and the price ofc.But it is more masculne leaning than extrait.And its one of the bestsellers 2015-2022.And unfortunately the fragraance will be good after 30 sec+

I am so very late to this party finally getting my nose on this one in this year of 2024, but now that I’m here, a lot of things make sense.

First off, this is a very well blended fragrance. It’s hard to describe what it actually smells like because of how many layers there are and each time you try to nail one down, a new one appears. Overall, I’d say it’s a warm, spicy, sweet ambery fragrance. There’s not just one but multiple notes in here that I would consider polarizing. Not a negative, however I do feel that some of the stigma comes from those personally identifiable notes.

I very much like this one, but the price: yikes. At this point, there are more than enough dupes/inspired fragrances if this one doesn’t fit your taste or budget exactly.

pains me to know this magical DNA has been forced into so many fragrances causing it to become one of the most tedious aromas ever.

smells like synthetic saffron and cotton candy. i used to be a fan but now i smell this absolutely everywhere and it’s become so redundant. like a good song that gets overplayed on the radio.

I have a sample of this and had to scrub it off. I don't understand the notes or accords listed because all I can smell is sugar. There is a sort of flavoured fluoride smell to it - the super sweet stuff dentists would let sit on my teeth for 10 min when I was a kid... this is the best way I can describe it. It isn't an awful smell, it just made me feel a bit sick to my stomach. There's no indication it'll smell that sweet based just on the notes, but when I looked it up, it apparently uses ethyl maltol which gives it a cotton candy smell. If you like that scent in perfumes, I'm sure this would be great, but it's not for me.

Kurkdijian is my fav perfumer, i have OG br540 which is nuclear performance projection and sillage, and this is the next best thing. Ambergris (real ambergris) is one of my fav notes and I have a sweet tooth when it comes to my juice. So BR540 has everything i like … but I don’t like spending $450 and I over spray , thus I have this to layer…
It is a 1:1 dupe, except the nuclear performance projection and sillage isn’t here , but this dupe here does perform veryyyy well . But almost no other parfum performs as well as BR540 and this is an undisputed fact. So it’s being held to an impossibly high standard.

Technically and not my BR540 isn’t sweet enough for me - I like my juice sweet like Ana Abideya white (Amber gold -haramain , scandal jpq, one million , Gaultier2, le male elixir , etc ,) but I am fascinated by br540 prob because I can smell Ambergris all day long as feel as if I’m climaxing…
Some dude on Fragrantica says BR540 smells like a “condom and makes me gag” (I don’t know what a condom smells like because I’ve never worn one , sorry ) others say it smells like a hospital and medicinal , some say it makes them nauseous… I think they are all insane and inventing reasons to hate this … this scene is quite polarizing Bc if it’s popularity and for good reasons … Kurkdijian is a master perfumer and this is a masterpiece… it’s niche , it’s artsy, it’s complex , it’s multi dimensional , it’s dense , it’s deep, its has unexplained nuances , it’s mysterious, it’s delicious in a funky way…. smells like a man’s penis that you love to taste … it’s animalic… it’s carnivorous, its lustful , sinful , it’s calming , it’s euphoric , it’s spicy , sweet, marine , salty, (think of a man’s sweet load ) , itssss heaven

Antiseptic hospital or doctor’s office smell. I hated this on me but my husband said it smelled okay. The smell makes me nauseous to the point where I lost my appetite until I scrubbed most of it off of me. Good news is that it lasts forever - thorough multiple scrubbings and for many hours - so if you love this perfume you’re in for a treat.

This smells 99% same as SDJ Cheirosa 68. I don't like SDJ 68. This smells like airy cotton candy, that is very well blended. The quality of the perfume is amazing, but the scent is kinda mid. It's not as special as most people say. I'm disappointed. I expected something ambery, yet all I got was cotton candy. This fits anyone from ages 12-20, since it's not a mature scent like that...

There are countless “dupes” on the market but none of them perfectly captures the essence of BR540. I have no idea how some believe certain perfumes (e.g. Burberry Her, Ariana’s Cloud, SDJ Chierosa 68) smell “just like” BR540 when they simply do not. Baccarat has more depth and isn’t as strikingly sweet or floral fruity like the others i.e. is the most unisex of the perfumes mentioned. You can definitely smell the wood in Baccarat and it’s a lot smoother/less sharp. Don’t get me wrong I love the perfumes I listed that are known to be BR450 dupes, but nothing can identically replicate the original.

There's no question this gets alot of hate purely because its popular. The fragrance community can be a very childish one sometimes. If a fragrance is popular, there's a reason for that. I happen to really like this fragrance and I could care less how many people worse it. BUT, and that's a big but, it's INCREDIBLY overpriced. There's alot of dupes of this scent and for good reason, most people can't or just don't want to pay $450 for a fragrance. I certainly don't. This is what dupes are for. So people who aren't well off or wealthy can enjoy these scents as much as others can. I got a dupe of this fragrance from OAKCHA called Sweven. It's about 95% the exact same fragrance, and it cost me $60 for a 60ml bottle. I've also tried Ariana Grande Cloud which is very close too but not as close as Sweven. That coasts around $30. Anyone who loves BR 540 but doesn't want to break the bank, try OAKCHA Sweven. They have a ton of dupes for a very reasonable price. The scent itself although it's beautiful is very feminine, a little too feminine and can be very cloying if you're not careful as it's and incredibly sweet scent. The saffron is beautiful in the opening and dries down great into a woody cedar scent that stays with you. If I met a woman wearing this I'd be putty on her hands .... Never let a fragrances popularity dictate if you would buy it or not. But if an outrageously priced one like this, there are plenty of fantastic dupes out there that will be very close of not indistinguishable from the real thing......

Fancy pineapple cotton candy.
Absolute bullet-proof mammoth sillage bubble.
The longevity is insane, you would swear it is stalking you.

Ultimately, BR540 ends up smelling very synthetic and my husband absolutely hates it. Ironically, I think it’s sexy on a man, an unusual aphrodisiac to make women crazy.
My conspiratorial nature leads me to believe BR540 is a social experiment. 🤔
Its popularity has cheapened it severely, though. I also find it to be very thin, hard to explain, like food without salt.

I don’t love nor hate it, I am merely intrigued by it.

The Zara dupe (Red Temptation) is better than the original. For some reason the dupe has a stronger smell and it's more long lasting. Do not blind buy this fragrance because of the hype.

I tried it, i like it allot but i smell this everywhere i go, tho i still like it, 8.5/10

I know everyone and their mother wears this but I still love it! It lasts forever and can be layered with almost any fragrance. It's expensive but the lasting power is awesome. I can use one spray and still smell it on myself the next day. If I spray on my clothing it's there forever!

A sultry, dark, and opulent fragrance. Definitely a nighttime wear for cooler weather, as the amber and warm spicy notes can prove cloying and overpowering in the heat. Layering Baccarat Rouge 540 with lighter notes can open up the possibilities of wearing the scent during multiple occasions. After multiple hours, the drydown leaves a slight metallic note to linger.

I am trying to wrap my head around how anyone thinks this smells like cloud or is a sweet scent. It smells SO much like mint. It clears my sinuses.
It smells like the way my orthodontist office smelled. The minty scented wax they'd use to take impressions of your teeth? That.
I tried to wait for it to change into into the dry down since that's where my friend said it smells sweeter. After hours and hours still smelling like mint I had to wash it off.

I definitely see this as more masculine. I think I'd like it better on a guy.

this is my second time reviewing after spending right around a year with BR540, as I feel my experience has changed enough that I need to take another crack at it…

I’ve always loved the smell, first and foremost—hearing what other people smell when they wear this fragrance is fascinating to me. condoms, balloons, bandaids, hospitals, metal… I’ve never gotten even an inkling of these notes when wearing baccarat. though I kind of wish I did—metal, especially. I love a metallic perfume. It’s so strange how differently people experience the same scent.

However, to me, BR540 is sweet and sexy. it’s the only perfume I’ve ever used where I don’t smell the alcohol in it—I don’t have to wait for the dry down for that sharpness to disappear. It’s smooth and deep straight out of the bottle. I can’t taste it in the air or the back of my throat. It’s like a living thing in a bottle. I’ve always been a fan of the sweet and salty combo, and that’s exactly what this is—it’s spicy burnt sugar and warm woodiness cut by musky salt. the ambergris note in this is indispensable to me. It’s what MAKES the perfume. on its own it’d be sweet and pleasant enough, but the warm, sweaty salt is what I feel consistently keeps it out of reach from the many dupes and clones in its wake. Its mixes so beautifully with my chemistry, and smells so sexy on me when I start to sweat. I LOVE a perfume that compliments sweat.

it’s my signature scent (pause for eye roll. that’s fine. I live in a rural town on the east coast so it’s not over saturated over here like it is in other places) in that as soon as I enter a building, my coworkers perk up and tell me they knew I was there before they saw me. the sillage is incredible. the girls I work with have started wearing dupes so they can smell like it too, and they ask me to give it a smell to see how accurate it is, and while they smell good, it’s always missing that salty ambergris note that gives it its real depth. yes, I get the occasional “are you wearing that ariana grande perfume?” but as soon as I pull the knife from my liver it’s fine. that ones too marshmallowy for me to find them terribly similar anyway. I can smell it clear as day on jackets I haven’t picked up in months, and sometimes even on clothes that have already been washed. blessing for me, but if you hate the smell, this would be a curse. you’d better REALLY love her if you’re gonna go for it.

for the first month or so that I owned BR, I was almost completely nose blind to it. I knew I loved the smell, but I couldn’t smell it on myself, my clothes, anything but test strips or bringing the nozzle close to my nose. to be honest, I started out very disappointed in her—the price tag is deranged enough as is, but for a perfume I can’t even smell? I saw others experiencing this phenomenon with BR and other ambroxan-heavy perfumes and was worried I was doomed to never being able to smell the best scent I ever found. However, one day, it just stopped. I vividly remember picking up a shirt and getting hit in the face with the smell, and ever since, I’m no longer nose blind. don’t know why, don’t know how. just be aware that it can happen, but if you wait it out, it can stop just as quickly.

also worth noting that this is the only perfume my girlfriend actually likes. most she’s ambivalent about, and since she’s hyper sensitive to smells, she can usually only pick up and fixate on the alcohol smell, describing most of them as smelling like “chemicals.” but this one, she likes, and loves to smell close to my skin when I wear it. she mostly just likes how my skin smells, but BR seems to play the best with it to her nose.

it’s just an all-around love for me. except the price tag.

Adding to the crazy list of notes that people have reported below...

This started off gummy bear to me but after this it wasn't sweet at all, only metallic to the extent that I could almost taste it on my tongue. The saffron now was present throughout it also smelt of balloons.

It was certainly interesting, but I wouldn't buy based on how this smells on me

I totally disagree with people saying this fragrance is for men too, smells cloying way too sweet and floral this fragrance is only suitable for women and ill stand on this claim forever.

People say it is more female fragrance not sure why I feel this perfume is equally good for man and woman

I guess it changed the game but in a bad way on my skin it smells terreble to me and to other 7 people i asked. projection is average and longevity is 7 days insane.
But it smells terrible, its exepensive and uses cheap ingredients and tricks.

She's sweet, she's strong, she projects. There's a reason she is popular. She is the moment. There's not a time I don't think she's appropriate to wear. Definitely signature worthy. My only regret is not getting the big bottle of this.

i clean my house while wearing this one ✌️

I don't even know how to describe this fragrance, it sure is different... Something about it makes my stomach turn and it's not that hospital smell. It's the complete opposite to a comforting scent, it's a disturbing one.

Smells high quality floral. Feminine leaning. Smells 7/10 on me but can smell 9/11 on a woman.

This smell remains a mystery to me. I like it on others, but I don’t always recognize it🙈 Especially on brunettes. I've tried this on myself several times and it's disgusting. 🤮 The smell of iodine followed me for several hours and I ran to take a shower

I hated this so much. I kept it on for a few hours so that it could develop and then had to scrub it off because it was choking me and started to give me the worst headache. It's very warm and ambery (but not in a cozy way) and smelled kind of like a sweaty high school boy wearing cheap cologne. I didn't get any florals at all and it just smelled fake and harsh. Hard pass.

I actually don't understand why this is so popular. I genuinely feel nauseous when I smell this DNA, it's unfortunate that it's so popular because there's so many clones out there it's almost impossible to get away from this.

Reminds me of my old neighborhood gym when growing up. Not sure why since I was always the only one there.

I'm glad it is so expensive ( although I do not understand THAT fact ), because it means, that not everybody who likes it, will own this fragrance. Although, unfortunately there are a LOT of people who think, that: " if it is expensive, it must be good", well not necessarily, I would say. My signature cost a 1/4 of BR540, and I get a LOT of compliments, but definitely do not offend or bother other people. BR540 should be banned from using in public, it is an instant headache inducer, sorry to the ones who like it, or think they like it "because it's expensive". People, please stop using it.

Smells masculine and smoky . I expected something sweeter and more feminine.

It smells like a condom and it makes me gag + it bugs my brain because I become anosmic after smelling it and want to smell it again 😵💫

Horrible 🤢


Useful details : english is not my mother tongue and my opinions are copied and pasted from my personal notes, written on the fly after several phases of testing (tracking changes for several hours on blotters, then on my skin for a day).

Baccarat Rouge 540 is the go-to fragrance for those seeking compliments. Seriously, every other time I wear this out in public a stranger is complimenting me on it! It is incredibly sugary sweet, projects like a beast, and lasts all day. I would say it leans more feminine because of this, but I still rock it as a man, though if you're the macho-type I would skip this one. It comes with a hefty price tag sure, but this isn't an every day fragrance.

Perfume someone would wear to hide the fact they're smoking

It smells like someone blowing cigarette smoke in your face + some oud. VERY strong, caught me horribly off guard at first smell. If that's your cup of tea, go for it. Not to mention the price too

price value - 3/10
projection - 11/10 my eyes teared smelling it
sillage - 9/10

I can't make up my mind about this perfume. The first few times I tried this, I smelled almost nothing. The scent disappeared from my skin almost immediately after spraying; apparently I got noseblind to it extra quickly. However, I tried it again after a couple of months, and it smelled so strong that I could easily smell it even hours after spraying! My feelings about the scent also vary. Sometimes I can smell a lovely, airy mineral scent with a sweet, refined saffron aroma, which reminds me a bit of cotton candy. Deeper notes of amber and cedar waft in the background, and on the base rests a cool ambroxan/cetalox scent. Other times, however, Baccarat Rouge is almost repulsively medical and reminds me of a doctor's office, rubber gloves and plasters. In a way, this perfume is quite addictive, but, because it’s so unpredictable, I guess I’ll rather stick to perfumes that I know I absolutely love.

This may be the strangest fragrance I’ve owned. First off I go nose blind to this within 5 mins and I’ll get whiffs of it throughout the day. If I smell it close up it almost smells like stretched rubber bands and even sometimes oddly enough lemony, aquatic and like a fresh bread smell in the background. I also get a fresh dollar bill smell. Gets me insane compliments possibly one of my most complimented next to the aventus style DNA. Very recognizable in the air. Where I’m from this is kinda the rich F boy scent. Go to your local expensive sneaker/hybeast store and you will 9/10 smell this in the air.

Cheaper alternative: Club de nuit untold - and if you ask me smells like BR540 but a twist and by twist I mean it’s amplified and stronger. Has the alcohol opening for a bit but once that’s gone wow it last days.

I don’t know why I still don’t own a full bottle. But I had a few vial samples as well as 5 ml travel sizes. Let me tell you! I have never ever in my life received so many compliments before! Everyone around me asked what I was wearing! Both genders! I will never get tired of Baccarat and it’s that good! The Queen in the fragrance league for sure😍

Zara Red Temptation is literally identical

Francis is what? forty-something and this is his third game-changing industry-defining fragrance:

Le Male
Narciso
BR540

This is not for me. the artificial sweet cloying and it is way too much, The saffron mixed with that detergently industrial cloud is way overpowering for any social situation, it is like screaming when everybody is talking.

I still get why is so popular and loved. It creates this fluffy sweet aura around you that is very attractive. i

Kudos to FK; Green tea is still my favorite of his creations but you get why this guy is so appreciated and this particular baby is so loved. His musky lingering ambery signature is very pleasing for most people.

At this point I don't even think you need to try it, just walk around a big city and you will catch it somewhere. If you were or are an Angel by Mugler person, or if you are into that saffrony vainilla that Mateu number 5 does so well, this is probably going to knock your socks off.

I’m a 20 yr old male college student and this stuff is my kryptonite. It literally makes me weak in the knees when I smell this on a woman. If you’re a woman trying to attract men from the same demographic as me I strongly recommend br540. I’m so addicted to this stuff that I nearly bought it for myself but my friend had to step in and remind me how feminine this is and that I would not be able to pull it off.

I bought the 200 ml for 300 euro and I love it it brings back many memories and white floral is what makes the perfume . Buy it if you like it and was this price reasonable or too much

I thought, maybe, it was just that until now I was smelling dupes and not the real thing. Maybe once I tried it, I would finally get it. I love all the notes. I should love this perfume. But it smells like the hospital I work in.

Thank god I’m anosmic to this one, or I would imagine it would be a fainter.

From the little I could smell, it’s slightly nauseating, wonky but fascinating scent, it doesn’t smell like anything on earth you smelled before. Purely synthetic artificial intelligence masterpiece.

6/10

Smells a lot like cotton candy on paper and on skin to me. But in a very smooth, nice way. Not sure If I'd pick this up for my current collection, although I don't have any sugary-sweet fragrances atm out of my 62.

Do I think this is worth the price tag? Not quite. However, I have not found a dupe that comes anywhere close to smelling as good in my opinion. I find this to be sweet but not in a sickening way. It's a very classy and sophisticated sweet scent. I can definitely see how some people say it smells like a dentist office as I do get a hint of that myself but i happen to quite like it.

It finally happened. I just saw someone on Reddit recommending BR540 as smelling similar to Cloud. I’m off to bang my head into the wall and sob in the shower.

I'm drawn to controversial perfumes, they always pique my interest. This fragrance falls into that category. It's not a blind buy for me; it's too expensive for that. Everyone knows this fragrance and has an opinion about it. Although it's been around for years, I'm just now diving in.

Personally, I enjoy its scent profile. On my skin, it exudes a sweet aroma, which I appreciate. It's not heavy, but it's distinctive enough to make an impression. Soft yet powerful, it leans feminine due to its sweetness on me. This fragrance isn't for the meek; it oozes luxury and complexity. It lasts a long time, but I forget I’m wearing it until I move around or get a whiff. Or when someone compliments it.

Its DNA profile is blended perfectly, and now I know it can vary significantly from person to person. What I’m smelling on my skin is way different than what I’ve smelt on others who were wearing the same fragrance. It's creating something beautiful on me—sweet, grand, rich, and indescribable. It's not sugary or vanilla-like, yet it's undeniably sweet/smooth with a hint of saltiness/airiness on me. It’s hard to tell you what this smells like. It’s NOT a sweet fragrance so don’t assume because I’m saying it smells “sweet” ON ME that it will be on you. I just don’t know any other way to describe the smell it’s giving off on me. I thought it would be spicy since the one person I know who wears this often leaves a spicy scent when wearing it. For me there is 0 spice.

I imagine it's pleasing to those around me, not overly loud but definitely noticeable, both because of its uniqueness and its popularity. Longevity is 5 to 6 hours on me, all day if on clothes. I prefer the smell from my skin over my clothes tho. It's the scent journey it takes on each individual's skin that’s so intriguing to me. I'd recommend trying a sample on yourself first to see how it interacts with your body chemistry. It's too pricey for a blind buy, so please don’t waste any money. Overall I enjoy it and I’ll wear it on special occasions.

I'm quite surprised how popular this fragrance has gotten. Everyone's nose is different, but all I can smell is a very unpleasant musky saffron. Very long lasting, so if you like it that's a plus, but it smells too much like a sterile hospital for me to enjoy.

''My sigma aura decreases when i wear this skibidi

it reminds me of the gooning season and skibidi toilets deep gyat

Sugma 💔''

Bro this comment section is actually cursed

but lets have a serious review.

This is nothing special. Its unisex but leans feminine

It not worth the price but it is also good quality but for the same price get something that smells better

as gabe764 said. It is very boring

do not get this for the price

I have an almost full 1.2 oz bottle of this if anybody is willing to trade with me. I wore it a couple of times and decided it just wasn’t for me. Too metallic for my taste. If anyone has a used bottle of Tom ford vanilla sex, MFK gentle fluidity gold, Oud Satin Mood, Grand Soir, or Delina Exclusif that they just don’t really want anymore then I’d be super happy to trade for those if anyone is interested.

It's a very good scent but nowhere near worth the price. I got a bottle of Oakcha Sweven for $50 and it smelled 95% the same, and it lasted longer too so was well worth it. Arianna Grandes Cloud is a good dupe for it too and that's like $20 in some stores. I don't get how these companies can justify charging $400 and are allowed to charge that for something that many other houses can sell for a tenth of the price. That's just greed at its worst. Even if it there were no dupes of it I still wouldn't pay that amount.

too many inspirations that are just as good, + it doesn't last or project that long

After went extra miles to get this from my local reseller for $$$$$
Ended up irritating my partner at piano recital and offending my ownself.
I loathe this fragrance. I can't even use this as room or car fragrance i just want to throw away this to bin

I rarely wear this fragrance on its own nowadays, because too many people smell like this stuff and its dupes. But I still have the 70ml bottle half and the 11 ml travel spray which I will savor for the rest of my life as base perfume to be layered with other weak fragrances. I love layer it with some Hermes fragrances like Eau de Rhubarbe Ecarlate, or Jour d’Hermes Absolu. Brilliant.

On me, this is a very gourmand Saffron with just a hint of Jasmine. Reminds me of Swedish Lussekatter. Like a warm, sweet Saffron infused bread. After it wears a bit, I start to get the resin and fir, but it's very subtle. I would say this fragrance is unisex and I'm very curious how it will smell on my partner. I wouldn't pay full price for this as I've found 1:1 dupes that match my sample perfectly. That said, I really like this. Perfect for cozy autumn days.

I really loved this perfume. I was crazy for it for a while and bought so many dupes of it and later bought the real deal. However I exagerated because I quickly became tired of the scent profile. What really made me sell my bottle of BR is that I can smell this everywhere when I travel (this and cloud - I can tell the difference). I don’t like smelling like everyone else, and especially not with mainstream scents. I would get a small 15 ml decant or something just to wear it when I miss it because I like to rotate through my scents. You either hate it or you love it. I never got compliments on it :( I can’t say about projection and longevity because I am anosmic to it.

I just wanted to leave a comment in the craziest perfume review section ever. Woooooo.

Reflecting on hype, and influencing, I grew up in the age of super hyped and blockbuster perfumes, when there only seemed to be a few hundred of them. The Guerlains, Chanels, Diors, the Parises, the Angels, the Balmains, the Poisons, the Shalimars. Heck, I got Tabu, my first perfume, in my village pharmacy, a town of a thousand people. I remember the thrill of a Vogue magazine with a scent strip in it in my little bedroom on the farm. Later, I was more than capable of dropping a fortnightly paycheck on a fragrance 😄.
At first I I actively disliked this generation of what I call anorexic dry chemical scents which burst on the scene in my mind with Le Labo. I still live in the bush and rely on decants and sample sets for my thrill of discovery (we won’t mention the blind buys)……
I almost always find allegedly overhyped scents great. But it took me a long time to understand overdoses of ambroxan and iso e super, in fact it was really only last year that I finally ‘got’ ambroxan in JhaG NaP. Teetering between nose blind and liable to get something like iron filings sticking to a magnet, in my nose, depending on the dosage and relationship between other harsher aromachemicals makes it challenging!
BR is now a real masterpiece in my mind. What better in an age of overcrowded urbanised teeming perfume averse humanity than a scent which ghosts around like all the other synthetic factory created smells in our environment? Feather your body with something teasingly sweet, something that has a whiff of being in a pine forest, and a musky ambergris of the best sun warmed skin.
That said, BR has changed. I wear it from both a decant from some years ago and a couple of 5ml manufacturers’ samples. The old decant is stronger and with what I swear is something aldehydic whereas the samples are much sweeter. The complaints about it make me hesitate on buying a fb of a new batch, even though I have gone in ever decreasing circles around it with the dupes🙄. Perfume houses are also pumping out endless variations on the ambroxan theme hoping for another smash hit, so there isn’t a shortage of modern ghostly woody musks.

smells like my dads second wedding, soon to be stepmom doing my hair in the back of a musty church. basket of fake flower petals. love it <3

BR540 is a groundbreaking piece of perfumery, and whether it’s to your taste or not, can we not at least respect the expertise that has gone into its development? It’s a masterpiece.

The best advice I have for anyone who wants to try this or honestly, any fragrance, is don’t blast it on your wrists and bring it straight to your nose. May as well just snort the raw ingredients. Put one spray on each wrist, don’t rub, don’t bring it to your nose, just wait. Let it warm up and drift around, then you’ll either appreciate it or genuinely dislike it. Don’t overspray, you’ll go nose blind to it and choke everyone in the building. It’s utterly obnoxious if over sprayed, but absolutely heavenly when worn right.

Or, you know, blast it all the way up to your cerebral cortex and get a nosebleed. You do you.

i bought a sample because i don't often blind buy, and listen, i get it. reading through some of these reviews is more entertaining than stand-up comedy. "it doesn't live up to the hype" can only come from rookies or people who do not understand how fragrances and olfactories work. CHECK THE NOTES, PEOPLE. learn what you like, and buy accordingly. not everything is going to work on your skin or suit your tastes. it's not the house's fault you don't like the fragrance, that's just how it goes sometimes. if you're unhappy with a fragrance, talk about why and not just "the hype". there is not a single scent out there that's suited for everyone, and if you're not that girl, you're not that girl. it's okay, just find something you do like.
now onto the actual perfume,
it is long lasting, almost eternal but the sillage is intimate-moderate, which is actually good considering how apparently polarizing this scent is. i think BR540 has a perfect balance of sweet, boozy, and woody. none of these accords overpower the others and you really pick up on it all. it has a very nostalgic scent for me, not in an "old-fashioned" way, but smelling it reminds me of my old rich neighbor from childhood with cherry red nails, expertly curled hair, and impeccable makeup every single day. this is the perfect signature scent for someone with that vibe: rich, put-together, adored. is it worth the price tag? maybe, maybe not. i might ask for it as a gift or save up, i'm not sure i'm willing to spend $300+ on a perfume, but maybe one day.
overall, i think it's worth it if you're looking to splurge on something super feminine and sexy

Smells like a bouncy house.

Yo, why does this smell like strawberry flavored condoms?

On the plus side, the scent stuck on my clothes for well over 10+ hours, and I could smell it a mile away. So that's something.

If you like smelling like a pack of Durex, this is the one for you.

I received my decant from TPC today. Unfortunately, it turns out that I'm one of those people who get a strong Band Aid note from this frag. It starts off with a lovely cotton candy note then quickly turns into a Band Aid bandage with faint sugary notes. Usually frags with similar scent profiles / notes work very well with my skin chemistry, so I'm not sure what happened here.

Honestly, over hyped garbage. So sweet it's Cloying, veryy intimate sillage. Definitely not worth the price. I got a sample just to try, boy did I not regret that. I've smelt this smell before, it's kind of in the same boat as bdc to me. If you like it, buy it I guess, but not worth the money and certainly not unique. Disappointed to say the least

i jst got a sample cuz i wanted 2 participate and i luv the saltiness but this is more than my rent lmao im not buying this.

An experience, as much as a fragrance: it’s as if you’re able to smell thro’ it. And that experience distinguishes it from the many dupes; so it’s worth the extra expenditure I’d suggest.

I was so looking forward to this scent. There has been so much hype on social media about how great this is. I’m so disappointed I could cry. The initial smell was meh, and there was almost no projection…..like I literally had to put my nose right up to my skin to experience it. 30 minutes later, it developed into something really nice, but then it faded away and was gone before I really got to enjoy it.

I had such high expectations for this after all the hype, but on me it was not detectable after 3 hours and the only scent I ever got was an almost cloying sweetness. The widest range of fragrances I picked up on were between warm vanilla fruit and carmelized marshmallows. I didn't get any of the fragrance story others describe.

I literally don’t understand the hype around this scent. It’s the most over duped fragrance and for what reason? It starts out smelling like a hospital or Dr. Office I get almost a fecal note as it dries down.

Crazy to blind buy this lol

My partner blind bought this for me as a gift and it's amazing. This smells like wealth. The perfume lingers on clothing for a long time.
I love wearing it. I love smelling it (and its dupes) on others.

Smells like potassium iodine.🤮

Every time different story… today begins with salty aroma. Then that burnt, sharp sugar note. But to my nose (and this depends from climate you live in) this is not sweet parfume. I understand why this is first made for crystal company. This is like crystal that reflects light different ways on different days, it is hard and shiny, a bit ”metallic” glass.

Definitely an aquatic/animalic and almost metallic aspect to it in the inital spray for me, but the dry down leaves a sweet woody/amber that is to die for. i honestly didnt care for it the first time i tried it, and couldnt understand the hype. but after trying it (and now owning a bottle) i can say it has really grown on me. its a very complex scent in a way im unsure how to describe. definitely a compliment-getter, my partner cant get enough of this one.

Cotton candy.

This is a unique fragrance unlike anything I've ever smelled. There's a marine element which reminds me of fish nets. But simultaneously latex gloves and antiseptic. It's salty, metallic and sterile. Almost aquarium-like.

Very confused by people making comparisons to sugar/syrup as I don't find it sweet at all. An interesting, thought-provoking scent, but I wouldn't want to smell like this at the end of the day.

UPDATE 2 Wks later
I've tried wearing this again and it really has grown on me. I might even like it? I think it's off-putting at first since it's such a bizarre fragrance.

I'm now better able to identify the sweetness which I missed at first. It's a dark, charred sweetness with some bitterness, like burnt caramel sugar.

Baccarat Rouge is a fascinating paradox in the world of perfumery. Fleeting and elusive, akin to chasing a wispy apparition.

At first application, its renowned burnt sugar note immediately captivates the senses. However, as the scent unfolds, it morphs into something more elusive, as if the burnt sugar aroma is carried away by a gentle sea breeze, accompanied by subtle hints of woodiness and fleeting jasmine. Soon, it dissipates, yet others around you still catch its lingering presence, akin to seeing through glass—you sense it's there even when it's out of sight.

Like an empty frame in a museum, Baccarat Rouge is a masterpiece in its transparency and elusiveness. It will haunt you like a phantom. Its transparent and glassy essence, while unique, may leave some feeling unsatisfied.

Was expecting to like this as I love cloud, but found it surprisingly metallic and really musky in a sweaty kind of way — I think it’s the ambergris. Also had poor projection on my skin and didn’t really last :/

Sampled this today, it's surprisingly fruity but in a warm sexy way, maybe it's the ambergris? The woodsy still comes through, but the floral disappears pretty quickly. It's delicious and I do love it, but the price point is pretty steep for what it is.

I won’t ever understand why people hate this perfume and are very loud about it. I feel it’s mainly because they want it deep down and can’t afford it. It is a beautiful scent, copied many times and still the best dupe I smelt is Cheirosa 68. The original is less sweet and stays with you forever. I like the smell of it on someone else, when it’s been already few hours since the first spray. I tried it on myself, I have a sample from ‘wardrobe for her’, and it’s a bit too strong for me, I prefer SDJ 68, because has that sweeter scent to it and it’s lighter. I prefer gentle fluidity gold, I’ll definitely get that in full size. Gentle fluidity silver is already my partner’s signature scent, so I really like that house. But BR540 is my friend’s signature scent and I’m happy it is that way, cause that the only way I enjoy it - on another person. Saying that EVERYONE wears it is just incorrect. It is unique and beautiful and people have to stop pretending that it’s not.

MFK BR540 is simply just amazing. One of the most popular Niche fragrances for a reason. You either love it or you don't. I love it! I definitely go nose blind to it very very quickly but I know its still there all day as I pick up whiffs throughout the day. This is an awesome fragrance to own and is masterfully created. The original will alway be the best in my opinion. I think this would be too expensive to use as a daily and signature scent however, it is very versatile in my opinion. 2-3 sprays max. Overall, 9/10

MFK is down there with Byredo and Dior as my least favorite houses. Synthetic, metallic and gross.

Is this a gorgeous fragrance? Absolutely. Sweet, sexy, warm elegance in a bottle by the master Francis Kurkdjian himself. Is it worth the price? Not really. You can get something else that's 95% similar for 10% of the cost. While it's considered a cornerstone in modern perfumery by many, this is no longer the only single definitive play on this type of sugary sweet, non-gourmand, non-fruity, unisex DNA. Overall a great fragrance with amazing performance, but I don't think there's anything here *too* special to be worthy of giving in to such an insane price tag.

Tested this in store and it was so mid. Way too overhyped, scent is forgettable and didn't really smell like much from what I remember. For the price tag, I expected way better.

Over it. Loved it when it first came out. Comments on different forums say that they stopped liking it after having Cvid. I got plastic dental office long before then though. Ended up giving it away to a girlfriend. It took off a few years later.

It’s just so sweet that it disgusted me and gave me a headache for couple of hours 😭 If sugar syrup turns into a perfume, this would be it

Baccarat rouge is the only perfume I would call a bland perfume. It’s empty.It’s here but not here.
It’s levitating in the air, everyone in the room can smell it but not you. Seems like it’s the new thing to rush for. Consumerism bait at its pike.
This is not strong but it does fill a room yes.
It lingers in the air, not as a perfume, as a ghost. A light trail reminiscent of powdered burnt sugar and Marine air. That’s all you will get.
You won’t get noticed with this perfume or you will get noticed as "is this Baccarat rouge".
A perfume for empty minded people. Livid, bland, you are in the room, everyone knows , yet nobody cares or turn their heads. You want to be like everyone, and you are so miserable.
A perfume recommended by influencers made for influenceable people despaired to not be trendy. They all blind buy it,yet then they can’t smell it. But wait, they spent 300$ so they have to convince themselves and other people that it’s so unique and strong that you can get anosmic to it. The joke.
This perfume is both a joke and a masterpiece to me. Mr Kurkdjian is a master genius for it I guess. He played it right. And I laughed too.

Guys, alright... this is hyped, this is everywhere, no one shuts up about it... but for a reason. This is in my top three favorite ever scents and I can't get enough of it. I consider it one of my signatures. It is so beautifully blended I can't always pinpoint every note distinctly, but I find it beautiful, memorable, deep, very woody and sweet but with an edge. I also notice this fragance is one of the most sensitive out of my collection - just by changing your soap or lotion it is very sensitive to interacting with other fragance notes and it always reveals multiple layers beneath the base. I truly adore this fragance and wearing it will always make you feel strong, powerful and sophisticated.

it lasted more than a week and still has a slight smell left. MOD VANILLA is the perfect dupe.

i wish it wasn't a million dollars!! i bought a tester for $25! twenty five usd! it's ridiculous! and yet, it's one of the best perfumes ever for a reason 😔. the tester was a total hit-- at least five people a day would ask me what i was wearing (and someone actually clocked the name of it it was so crazy i was gagged). again, if i was a millionaire i'd buy it in bulk.

I hate it- it makes the air feel nauseating to the people around you. So much so that it smells cheap which is ironic.

I don’t understand this. Reminds me of something my granny would wear. I didn’t like this. Smells nice but only until it dries down then I’m nose blind. My daughter says she can smell it and says it’s spicy with a slight peppermint hint. Too overpriced
I don’t like this whole house

I want this so bad... it's just the price holding me back. The combination of sweetness and metalic woody notes are perfect and smells so elegant

You know I really wanted to hate this for some reason! I don't like following the hype train but in this case it is deserved. I came back to this sample several times to fully suss it out - but i didn't really need to 'return' to it because my coat cuffs still smell of the stuff 3 weeks later!

Its very VERY strong, take that as a warning to not over spray, especially to begin with as you suss out the scent. It smelt kind of funky and over powering to start with, I thought I did hate it. I kept smelling it and catching wafts and then over the next for days caught whiffs of my coat and scarf and I did fall in love with it - not so much I'd buy a FB though (also cant afford to so that's lucky! hahaha)

First spray I could smell the metallic-y animalic notes and it just smelled so strange, but the more I got used to it and the longer I wore it I got more of the amber, the spicy sweet woodiness, the saffron jasmine and cedar blended so smoothly!

I would recommend trying this in sample form, just for the exp. but gentle fluidity gold and oud satin mood are less popular (here in the UK) and just as nice and complex, so try them too :)

In the opening I get the "metallic" thing that people perceive as dentist vibes and bandages and so on. I don't like it, but it's bearable. It’s funny how many things people can imagine from the opening of this perfume - I even heard about "licking a metal bar". :)) But on my skin, this “polarizing” effect fades in the first hour.

After that, all that remains is just warm sweetness, slightly salted, like a combination of salted caramel with burnt sugar, but not in a very gourmand way, rather synthetic - a high quality synthetic, true. I assume it's the ambroxan or some of its relatives that have been used here.

Overall, too sweet and synthetic for my taste, and on me anyway I have the impression that sweet perfumes tend to become even sweeter. Also, I'm not fond of caramel-sugary perfumes, so it's a personal bias here. I kept only a small decant, for the sake of the collection. I understand why it is a people pleaser and such a great success. Very good performance.

Apart from that opening, I don't see what would be so horrible …or polarizing about it. Except that it is very popular and that there are a million clones, dupes and “inspired by”. Aaaand that people tend to abuse the use of this perfume, even in inappropriate situations. Imagine that sweetness in a very crowded office or bus/metro, during rush hour, in the hot summer, when the ventilation may not work, mixed with sweat. I can see some scenarios where you choke people with it and they’ll hate you for that; I would say use it in moderation. But that's not the perfume's fault.

Another disadvantage is that it's very common, so if you're looking for something unique, signature, if you expect people to smell the perfume first and know it's you, well, highly unlikely. :)) I live in the capital of an Eastern European country and aaaall the girls, high school girls to office-corporate ladies, smell like BR or one of its clones. Everywhere - subway, bus, park, restaurant, office, mall. This and "La Vie Est Belle". Yes, the clones are not as good and high quality, definitely the original is more refined, but let me tell you something - non-"scent enthusiasts" won't make a difference just by smelling your bubble. For them it's just "that super popular perfume". What I want to emphasize with this wall of text, is that if you really like it, wear it. If you wear it just because it's cool, expensive, hyped, you think it gives you "rich" vibes... it's a shame; there are so many unique, complex and underrated options, waiting to be discovered.

My mother bought a bottle due to the hype- long story short the smell is horrid. It is quite literally repulsive.

This fragrance gives me different feelings. I bought it a few years ago because of its wonderful gourmand feel, I smelled caramel lollipops and cookies. When I got the perfume, I stopped feeling it for a while. When the perfume "came back" it sounded different - woody, amerwood, a little jasmine. And i like it as well,its felt rich on me. Until after some time I felt only salt water on me and nothing else. Once I heard it in the trial and I realized what this prrfume was about. It's about sweet salty amber. Sometimes it's hard to wear it on myself, but this wonderful and unique sillage that fills everything around you with that wonderful ambergris.

Latex, dentist office, synthetic burnt hair, metal? and nothing, it almost smells like nothing at all. It's honestly impressive how they managed to bottle the essence of sterile air and plastic in a bottle and u can just spray it on. No but I think it's just me, how it reacts on my skin. I was really hoping to get to smell that magical sweetness everyone describes. Thankfully I only got a sample.

Will always be the best. Innovative for that time period and still carrying mass success. So much of this dna is being replicated in almost all fragrances that it’s a compliment to the perfumist who created this masterpiece. I’ve tested all of the dupes and nothing can compare to the airy and warm depth that the original has. Such an easy scent to wear anywhere and any time. So many people complain of the popularity but isn’t that a good thing? Doesn’t that mean that this is a beautiful scent and so easy to reach for? I love it that BR540 is so likable because scents carry memories and brings people together. This can be layered with any perfume out there. It really is just stunning.

If passionate on and off love/hate relationship had an aroma.

I feel like I've been influenced finally! I ordered from Micro perfumes as my curiosity got the best of me. It did take a moment for me to warm up to this elegant fragrance. I liked the smell the first initial spray. The first five minutes I was a bit indifferent (I thought it was a good spray but nothing too crazy). However...the dry down is what made me change my tune on how I feel about this perfume. Classy, opulent, luxurious. IT SMELLS WONDERFUL!! <3 Not to mention this lasts *long.* Honestly just trying to save as much juice I have as possible from the sample I bought -- but it seems like it stays on forever. It lasts through multiple hand washes when sprayed on the wrists (from my experience). I would definitely use this in the cooler months or maybe to an evening outing. Most definitely would like to purchase this for myself as a birthday gift.

(Another note- I can see how people would think it would be a dupe for Cloud by Ariana Grande. I see Cloud as Baccarat's younger, sweeter cousin that tries to emulate BR540, the grown and sexy older cousin haha)

I just don't understand the hype surrounding this fragrance. It's giving shopping mall perfume kiosk. Really off-putting. There's a sharp and crackly opening that gives way to something that I can only describe as "cheap men's cologne". I'd be interested to smell it on someone else — maybe that will change my perception of it. Unfortunately for me, it's a scrubber. :/

What fishforky said is definitely EXACTLY how this perfume smells lmao bravo!

this smells like if a high school bully and a mean misogynistic man had a baby

.

Oh what a morning reading all the reviews!
Kurdijan didn't just create a scent, but a memory that is triggering love and hate. As you read below.

He got the essence of many childhood's homes. The fabric softener, the fresh brew coffee, the head of the plastic doll that you got in a box opened under the Christmas tree. The smell of vanilla pancake and the hug of the rich Auntie and Uncle. It is imprinted right in your brain exactly in the memory center that is close connected to your scent receptors.

Your reaction depends on how you relate to this almost ancient/modern memories. If you smell hospital, insanity, impurity, it is too bad for you, because society choose it as an actual sweetheart on nostalgic memory lane. You are going to smell it a lot.

For me it is comfort. Safety. Youth and possiblity. Smelling Cloud on ungroomed teens makes stop wearing for a while, same applies if I smell it lingering on nurses during my doc appointment.

With my skin is fabulous. It makes me smells like money, and I am making good money wearing it. Lifts up my mood.

I don't deny that Cloud is a great dupe. If it matches your skin and you otherwise smell and look like a million dollar baby. This scent group requires immaculate posture otherwise it is trashy.

It is a hit or miss. Either you are a Slavic millionaire model with this scent or a sweaty acne box teen.

Anyway big love from me, just learn to wear it!

Would I wear it? No. I can still admire the fragrance and it's originality at the time it was created. All the clones and dupes prove that it is a scent profile that people find pleasant. It's easily recognisable and I like smelling it on other people. Undeniable classic of our times. How does it smell? Initially sweet marsmallowy with some florals (jasmin?), settles on the skin less sweet, woody, resinous. It's feminine in a classy, mature, career woman way, nothing flirty or playful about it.

Horribly headache inducing and has a weird chemical smell to it up close which makes me nauseous. I hope the extrait version is better.

To its credit, the longevity is ridiculously long.

Most horrible perfume I ever smelled, because there is something what 1 tiny spray made me so much nauseous, showered and washed my hair 3 times with shampoo and still there was hint of it making me sick all night. Unfortunately I blindbought 35 ml and wanted to love it, but no chance. If anyone loves this ( and seems many does ) and wants brand new 35 ml with good price, pm me. Shipping from Finland.

does everyone and their momma use this? yes.
is it an amazing smell?yes

It started out with a punch of sugary sweetness and made me slightly nauseous, slowly grew on me as it faded. It does smell quite distinct. Warm and sweet. It's nice but much too sweet for my taste.

I love this scent and am not afraid to admit it, haha! It's just so easy to wear and always smells classy, fresh, slightly sweet and inviting. Max three sprays is all I need to smell it around me all day. Can't think of an occasion that this scent wouldn't suit. Baccarat Rouge 540 is a perfume I will always have in my collection.

thought this would be more woody but to me it smells EXACTLY like cloud. i just saved myself a hundred fifty bucks

So glad I didn't buy this but got a sample instead..

I love this but I love the body oil more especially for layering

such an interesting scent profile. there really is nothing else like this (aside from its million clones), and i can't help but wonder why this of all perfumes became the one niche perfume everyone and their mother owns. there's something sharp and metallic about this, something sterile, cold, and latex-like (the dentist office comparisons) but somehow it still manages to smell good. so intriguing and captivating, everyone can have a completely difference experience with this perfume. i am unashamed to say that i like this.

i live in a college town in the middle of nowhere so i have yet to actually smell this on anyone in public.

This smells absolutely disgusting, I genuinely do not understand the hype. I have sniffed the perfume on its own and it smells like cloying artificial peaches. I didn’t want anything to do with it but recently was at Casa Cipriani where apparently the hand soap and lotion are all Baccarat Rouge scented. I felt nauseous all night from the scent lingering on my hands—it simply wouldn’t wash off. 0/10.

all of your reviews lack a really important facet of this fragrance. MFK invented this profile from thin air. nobody has ever thought to do a toasted saffron fragrance before this one dropped. that's the whole fucking thing with being a perfumer, inventing new trends, being the person that can steer multiple brands in a new direction to ride the hype of what you personally created. nobody even thought in this direction until BR540 dropped. this went against everything on the market and created a new pocket of gourmand / almost aldehydic kind of situation. the fact that you people sit here and say it's not worth the money because so many people have duped it. imagine someone stealing your identity and then people saying oh well the OG isn't even that cool because so many people stole their identity. cmon guys.

Smells just like mephedrone.
Mephedrone is getting popular again in the UK so you smell it on some people again.

I just passed next to a homeless man smelling of mephedrone and 1 min later I walked by man in full suit smelling exactly the same.

I can't stand it, smells like cat piss. My ex used to do lines of it so I kinda got used to it, I don't understand how y'all are enjoying it, it's perplexing.

This is a strange one for me, as it's so completely different to anything else in my collection and not at all what I would normally go for. I generally gravitate towards sweet, vanillic gourmands, and this is a lot more unisex than I would generally be comfortable wearing. That being the case, I don't find this particularly sweet, but to me it has a smokiness that is strangely alluring. I find it very linear - it stays very true to itself and your first impression is also your lasting impression of this fragrance. The price however couldn't justify a purchase from me, as it isn't an outright 'love', but more of an 'intrigue'. I searched for dupes, found AG's Cloud, but didn't like it, and then stumbled, totally accidentally, upon Boreal by Yodeyma, which not only is virtually an exact copy minus the hefty price-tag, but is so long-lasting, you'd think it were 100% the real thing. So, I'm glad to now have 'Baccarat Rouge 540' in my collection, to dabble with when I feel like getting out of my comfort zone, but am equally glad not to have paid a fortune for the pleasure.

It's a pretty scent, very strong as well, but it doesn't smell as unique as people were saying. It also reminds me of fall for some reason, but I don't think it's worth the price tag, so I will not repurchase.

when i first smelled this, it was so cosy, comforting and radiant. It was such an achievement for me when i bought my first bottle, but unfortunately it is such an overdone fragrance with so many dupes on the market that it put me off completely. while the silage is great and it lasts a long time - everyone, and i mean everyone smells like baccarat, and i ended up giving my bottle to my brother. I will admit it still is a beautiful fragrance, but i cant stand to smell like everyone else, and the price point isn't worth it when you have dupes that smell just as good.

Two years ago, living in Paris, I smelled this scent(one too many times) from a handful of samples given by a friend. I heard plenty about the mystique behind Baccarat Rouge, and I was immediately confused by the obvious ostentatiousness of the hype surrounding it. I hoped to give this scent a true chance, so I wore it time and again. I hated it. I still hate it. It is ostentatious, as previously mentioned, somehow aggressive without understanding how, and just too overpriced. Yet, it is only now that I understand the aura of this scent. Kurkdjian explained he was replicating what a piece of Baccarat glasswork would smell of and the scent was not truly meant for consumers. So the notes of this fragrance are of little importance, its silage or longevity, same, all has been explained by others before as is. What he achieved here is amazing, he created the smell of an object that itself has no smell, glass. I now realize, I just don't like the smell of glass.

I totally agree with @urbnyc200, dupes suck. They might smell similar from the distance, especially if you've never smelled the real thing, or have *untrained nose (..meaning haven't smelled much of a niche stuff) From the very first time I've smelled this amazing concoction, it was spun sugar + evergreens. So unique and so different than anything else. Kurkdjian is a pure genius, period!

Band-Aid brulee, with a hint of spice! (I had to test it out for myself, because the descriptions sounded so crazy. But it's true.) Not entirely unpleasant, mind you. But certainly a little unusual. I guess I like it, but I don't find it amazing.

Honestly...yes there are a lot of dupes BUTTT the only thing that the dupes seem to get 100% is the opening I've tried all of em you name them oakacha, DUA, Alexandria, dossier, cloud, Zara red, amber rouge, brakkat (you get it). The only thing I can never seem to get from the dupes is the thing I like the most and that's the spicy dry down with fir. As a guy I find that the most masculine aspect of this fragrance but also what makes me like it. The dupes are good if you like the opening but if you prefer something more complex with that woody/fir dry down you HAVE to get the original trust me. From the amount of money I spent on dupes I think I would've had the original to begin with. Save yourself time I promise and MONEY!

I deal with rental evening wear and let me tell you…Every other returned dress smells of this. I’m so sick of smelling the dupes too. I’m sorry but this fragrance is ruined for me until people calm down and a few decades go by. Might still not be enough. I can’t see this fragrance objectively, it’s everyone’s go-to and a tired Rolex-like flex.

This scent is so magical, I love it! I have been waiting to try it for so long and thought that it would be a letdown because of how much it was hyped up. However, quite the opposite! I think this perfume is so elegant, royal, and mysterious. I think it is a good combination of feminine but with a bite to it. I can see why so many men love it and women love to wear it. As much as it may be overdone, this may be my signature scent for fall/winter.

A chemical experience that attracted attention for its eccentricity.

One of the few perfumes that I’m still to find occasion and “personality” for wearing.

Dentist’s office. But being able to chemically construct, and transform such a smell into a “wearable” sensory experience, is for a few. In this, the perfumer showed excellence.

Synthetic aromatic metallic is how I would classify it.

Contradictorily, it seems to me like a perfume that lacks finishing (?). As if someone bought tomato extract and sold it as tomato sauce. As such, for now, the best use for the decant I own is layering. Due to its performance and “sterile” aroma.

If this fragrance were launched by Escentric Molecules, I would completely understand. Because it seems like a perfume that came right out of them.

Less metaphors and more review: I strongly feel a resinous amber. That’s where the danger lies: + Fir Resin. + Ambergris. So this is actually a resinous perfume (and not metallic). That’s the reason why the clear impression of a “Dentist’s office” comes to mind. I venture to say that it must be some resin they use. I will ask my dentist at the next appointment. I know I smell this mainly in the dental cleaning part.

And of course, it also smells resemblant to latex.

I didn’t feel a sweet fragrance. Sometimes I may think I’m feeling something sweet, but most likely because I’m biasing myself from previous reviews that talked about a sweet smell. But no, this is synthetic, metallic, resinous, ethereal.

What else to say? It is a creature of its creator.

Aroma: 3.5/7
Longevity: 5.5/7 (10-11h)
Sillage: – (I didn’t find a situation where I could use it, except at home)
Originality: 7/7

I will wear my decant of Baccarat 540 when in need to abstract my olfactory perception, after feeling 5 different YSL Y’s, 5 different Invictus, 7 different JPG Le Males, etc., Or when I read “party perfumes to conquer them” more than 10 times in a day.

Unisex? More like "unispecies".

Wearing Baccarat Rouge 540 is like being cloaked in a radiant aura, where the rich warmth of saffron meets the delicate allure of jasmine, creating an intoxicating opening. As it settles, the depth of amberwood and the oceanic hint of ambergris envelop me, offering a sense of comfort and intrigue. The grounding finish of fir resin and cedar whispers strength and sophistication. This fragrance makes me feel untouchable, as if I’m walking through life in a bubble of luxury and elegance. It’s not just a scent; it’s an armor of confidence and a signature of my presence, leaving a trail of memories wherever I go.

The perfume is quite sweet in the vanilla sense. I like to use this during spring for daily after the shower. However, I do like to put bukhoor with this to elevate it. It is a little overrated, as I do not find many people asked me what I was wearing as the sillage is not as strong as people make it seem.

Sweet red berries stewed in white noise. Or like a berry tartlett macerated in acetone nail polish remover. Like a dessert that looks delicious, but when you bite into it you realise that it's fat free, and is trying to make up for this by adding extra sugar. So instead of the smooth mouthfeel you get from double cream, you get the fuzzy, clinging mouthfeel of fat free yogurt. That is the sensation this perfume gives.

The most overrated fragrance I’ve ever tried.

This smells like burnt sugar, nothing more, nothing less.

Granted, it’s not terrible but it doesn’t try anything special. Extremely basic, unoriginal and boring, the “La Vie Est Belle” of this generation.

Is it bad? Well no
Is it good? Depends on your taste
Is it overrated? Oh that’s a yes
Is it overpriced? Hell yes
Disappointing? To say the least…

one of the most intoxicating perfumes ever. it's irreplaceable no matter how many dupes it has. it will always be in my collection

Jaggery is a common sweetener in South Asia. It's scent fills the room in which it is stored. This perfume smells really similar to jaggery stored in wooden boxes. It's very nicely done and lingers in the air around you. However the fact remains it smells similar to jaggery.

I picked up a tester and I really wanted to like it but on my skin it's pretty weak and theres this metallic note that i really hate. It's not awful but i dont think id wear it again. The warm-ambery scent on my skin is okay but eh. Very mid

I smell people wearing dupes of this everywhere. Please don't,. it is headache inducing and it doesn't smell identical. The number of times I have been at a store and have been assaulted by a "dupe" of BR540 are too many to count. Get the original or move on to something else. Let me pick up my groceries in peace.

this reminds me of cloud and sol de janeiro 68, i already have cloud and to me it smells almost identical

I wanted to like this one, I liked the dupes I’ve smelled of it, and I love my Sol de Janeiro 68 (very similar) but this just had an odd note in the beginning that’s almost repulsive.

Not unisex ,this is outright feminine bruh .

As much as I want to enjoy it, it's mid at best.

Unfortunately, I adore this with all my heart. It's perfect, and I will never be able to afford it.

Nice FAKE reviews below me. As if it's gonna make BR540 go away . Really? As if.....

This is so overhyped. I smell this everywhere because of how many clones there are of this and it’s just a big NO. I cant bring myself to liking this one.

It’s so nauseating and repulsive, I have PTSD whenever I see the bottle. Most evil-smelling brews are at least respectful enough to not be sickeningly sweet and cloying. Also it reminds me of very old ladies who put liniment on their chests and churches that use incense. That people actually pay money for this is beyond me.

hate to be that person but this genuinely smells revolting to me, I nearly got nauseated just from smelling it on paper. it reminded me of the smell of a litter box that hasn't been cleaned in a while mixed with body odor and spices. the ridiculous price tag just ties it all together. the bottle is pretty, though

Overhyped? yes. Over-hated? also yes.

Theres nothing really wrong or offensive about baccarat, but mfk has much better options especially for that price tag.

unisex but leans feminine.

No just no.

The fragrance everyone loves to hate. I don't get it, it is a perfectly good, albeit overpriced, woody amber with a balanced saffron opening. As opposed to Crystal Saffron this is quite tamed.

Now, this is a fragrance to be used with a very light hand on the atomizer - It's 3 sprays maximum people!

Projects, lasts and overpowers any other surrounding scents. I own a bottle, purchased with my hard earned money, and half a bottle later I still enjoy it from time to time.

IMO this is not a signature scent or a everyday fragrance. It would be like having butter poached lobster for breakfast, lunch and dinner...

And, although I personally am more of fan of Grand Soir and Gentle Fluidity Gold, this is still a very good (not perfect) perfume, and if you have the wallet for it, why not?

Live and let sniff.

Disgusting!

Definitely not FBW, really can't understand the hype.

Leans more feminine to me because of that saffron note. I can see why people like it but personally is not something I'd wear. Definitely sample before you buy. I really don't see an occasion a man would want to wear this tbh. But if you are a woman or like floral and amber scents, this could be right up your alley.

As there's such a big hype around BR540, I had to give it a try. I'm so underwhelmed. Synthetic amber, wood and also something medicinal like an old bandaid. It's definitely a feminine scent, wouldn't say it's unisex. Sits close to my skin, with low sillage. Longevity is a moderate 6 hours. Maybe it's all down to individual skin chemistry. On me, it's just meh. Overall, for its price tag, I expected more.

Definitely overrated. Was curious to try it to see the hype and I was really confused! Ngl, it smells like something sweet mixed in with sick 😅 Wouldn't wear this again

I really don’t understand the hype for this fragrance!
It’s good not bad but DEFINITELY not worth the hype. NOT WORTH THE PRICE. I also find Thomas khosmala no 4 to be a 96% similar dupe for this. Go for tk4 instead of this it’s a lot cheaper

Literally the most horrible perfume I've ever smelt. Absolutely baffled why anyone would like it or pay anything for it. At first it smells like iodine then when it finally settles down it sticks to your skin with that nasty cloying smell that makes you heave. What even is that? Have been scrubbing at it in the bath and still can't get it off. Never again

What a great perfume I love it. The silage is a beast and is last for a long long time. Just amazing. I Dot’n have a full bottle yet just traveling but I will have a full bottle of. Soon very soon I will buy a whole bottle.

smells like hospital

Its too sweet i dont like it. It smells like yakult.

I blind-bought Baccarat Rouge 540 a few years ago. It took me a few tries to get used to it. After a few times wearing it, I fell in love, and it became my signature scent for years.

Baccarat makes a statement every time it’s being worn, it has a sweetness to it and is indescribable.

Everywhere I went, I got complimented by this perfume, and it hasn’t happened with any other of my perfumes.

I don’t detect any woodyness but I could describe it as a Feminine perfume with masculine vibes.

Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum, Will forever have my love.

Also, please don’t comment if you have a dupe or only smelt a dupe. Yes there are similarities, but there it is indeed not authenti.

It's neither as terrible as people who don't like it say or as amazing as people who love it say. It's not a masterpiece, it's not unique and it's also not synthetic or horrible. This is seriously as much as you need to know about it. You may love it, you may hate it, but this perfume is more talks than anything else.

Smells like cotton candy. Would not wear if you're looking for a manly scent, this is a youthful female scent.

I am truly disappointed by the fact that this unique fragrance is now produced as if it's extremely watered down!
Almost cannot smell anything, as if I sprayed nothing, yes.
Such a shame, I do remember the old batches!
If you smelled that thing, you'd be getting the smell from everything around you!!
And probably that's the reason why some people speak about some sweetness and some others can hardly catch anything apart from slightly iodine scent on their skin..
Damn. Please, bring "old" Baccarat back!

I got a sample of this ! And honestly it’s horrible it makes me feel sick to my stomach! It’s gut reaching nasty stuff , for me anyway I love most of the floral ones but this is sour and just not good nasty stuff

Do yourself a favor and layer this with MFK Oud Satin Mood😍 The compliments will not stop! It smells so heavenly. Baccarat is a 6/10 on its own but layered with Oud Satin Mood it’s a 10000/10!!! Very much unisex but can lean either way depending on how you wear it. I did not care for BR540 at first but layering this with other fragrances has made me fall in love with it. It’s soo good.

Most OVERRATED scent. Nothing special and there are so many better dupes on the market-- 7 Summers by Dime is a great one. I do not understand the hype around this fragrance, it is so sweet and bland. I would save your money.

Baccarat Rouge 540 truly stands out as a masterpiece, exemplifying exceptional craftsmanship not only in its fragrance but also in its exquisite packaging. The scent is undeniably distinctive, and despite some discussions I've heard about its perceived lack of sweetness on certain individuals' skin, I find it to be quite the opposite experience for me. On my skin, it unfolds as a captivatingly sweet and intriguing aroma, earning a solid 9.5 out of 10 in my personal rating. Its longevity is impressive, lingering throughout the day and leaving those around me pondering, "What is that enchanting scent?" It's a fragrance that truly captivates and remains a delightful presence, making every morning application a memorable experience.

It's a gorgeous scent, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did since everyone was talking about how it's overhyped. But I love how light and gently sweet it is while still being long-lasting, I could smell it on my skin all day and even overnight. I've just been getting into fragrance so the saffron note was super new and unique to me. However, the price is.... not it, lol.

I love the scent of Baccarat Rouge 540 on my friends and from the bottle but unfortunately after I tried it on my skin, all I got was warm spicy amber mixed with Ajax. The longer it dried down, the more like the Ajax cleaner it smelled. My skin chemistry can be so annoying...

I gave into the craze earlier in 2021 and bought myself a small bottle of Baccarat Rouge 540. I do admit it's very feminine and femme-fatale like, warm and silky and has crazy projection and longevity. After washing my clothes I could still smell this on my sweaters and jackets. However I had to sell it the following year as I kept on smelling this on almost every other lady within my town. I also agree that currently, there are so many cheaper alternatives but I do advise to splurge if you can and love the smell.

Truly unique, warm with a hint of metallic harshness to prevent it being cloying. The animalic ambergris also adds balance. A modern masterpiece.

Such a unique, complex, warm, and delectable fragrance. Yes, there’s that dentist scent (is that a metallic accord? I dunno), that I think was perfectly blended with the warm, cotton candy scent. IMO, that dentist scent balanced out the fragrance and sets it apart from the other overly-feminine cotton candy dominant fragrances.

I literally can’t get enough of this fragrance.

I love this, but I go nose blind after awhile. It does not last on my skin. I bought a dupe so I can douse myself in it and reapply throughout the day without feeling guilty.

This fragrance was the wildest rollercoaster of my life!
WILD!
I got it as a gift and I was soooo excited, I spray it and I immediately went…oh no!
CHICKEN SALT 🍗 , I smelled like seasoning, my friend (a dude) sprayed it and it was a divine,sweet, classy scent.
I came here to educate myself so I decided to trust the fragnatics and let it macerate before I declutter.
I AM SO HAPPY I KEPT IT ❤️
Now it smells beautiful, sweet, feminine and buttery.
It’s a really special fragrance to me, because it’s also my first niche and thought me to be patient and really appreciate the craft.
MFK is a genius and no matter how disgustingly popular it got, it’s still a head turning, long lasting, projecting beast that is worth the try. Not a safe blind buy but it can sure surprise ❤️
It’s my business meeting special occasion scent, people notice me even before looking at me.

Note: I got it in summer, started wearing it winter. Chemistry changed completely

Possibly the most nauseatingly sweet, synthetic mess of a perfume I've ever tried. Soooo glad to be rid of this monstrosity shortly after purchasing. Maybe just my skin chemistry but holy cow this was bad. It's like someone made a list of all the popular candies from the 80s/90s, mixed it all in a blender and poured those awful squeeze juices we thought were amazing as kids over the top and bottled it up. Sadly anything with as much hype as this one has is usually a major disappointment.

it paints a very vivid picture to me and i actually admire this fragrance for exactly that. a masterpiece of nausea. i desperately wish i could smell the metallic note from the description on me - instead it’s all multifaceted sweetness, hungry for attention. after smelling it, you’ll know it anywhere.

My mother gave this to me. It’s warm and sweet and doesn’t suit me.

The newest and best edition to the dupes of BR540 is by Police - Amber Gold for Her. I just gut it blindly and I have to say, this dupe is pretty spot on ! Performance is good, too. 💕 Btw I CAN'T WRITE THE RECENSION UNDER THE POLICE SITE AS THIS PERFUME IS STILL NOT LISTED ON FRAGRANTICA!!! shame

I was SUPER excited to try this given all the hype. But I was totally disappointed. It’s a basic sweet perfume with with an undertone of pine car freshener. I love amber perfumes too so I was really thinking this would be awesome. It’s similar to Cloud. It’s smells immature like a teen perfume not like someone sophisticated. To be clear it’s not a bad fragrance. I was just expecting something mind blowing and sophisticated. It just smells ordinary to me. Dossier makes a very good dupe. I won’t be buying either the original or the dupe.

@Nickie_Jac

Did you mean to post your review elsewhere?

I mean, it's nice you know? It's a sweet, inoffensive, woody amber with animalic notes like mentioned above. Those notes do give it a slight edge and somewhat more interesting profile than a basic sweet amber, but is it really worth the hype? Probably not. It does smell really nice, no doubt. Kind of similar to Prada Candy but with a more expensive and woodier profile. But it also smells very familiar, like something I have probably smelled on dozens of girls. Even though it smells pretty, it smells very basic too. I wouldn't say the price point is justified at all, and you can find similar or even better fragrances much cheaper. A decent dupe of this from ALT or something would honestly be more than enough. It's nice in the way a Louis Vuitton purse is nice. Still good but when everyone has it, is it really that exciting anymore?

I know it’s now too popular but it’s still a nice fragrance. It’s not my favorite but it is a beautiful amber with a slightly nutty note as well. Great for layering. The extrait is better.

I bought a sample of this to see what the hype is and this scent is so synthetic and horrible, reminded me of a horrible Arabic perfume I bought on Amazon that made me sick: Oud Maraam which I threw in the bin as it was making me physically sick.
I

Rancid chile. Do not believe those washed up influencers wearing this thinking it’s giving luxury no henny it’s synthetic and I’ll give it that it smells like cloud by Ariana, which also is a headache inducing fragrance. except this one is more warm and has that saffron.

Smells good very expensive you can find dupes that smell exactly the same

terrible

It was good until it became popular.
Almost every single person you meet smells like this.

It's so interesting to read people's reviews on BR540. Some are reminded of creme brulee, some of MP Crystal Saffron. With my skin chemistry, BR540 is a 10-minute (yes, literally 10 minutes) fragrance which eventually turns into a sweat-like skin scent which cannot at all be complimenting any sort of surroundings. The same thing applies in my mother's case - and she tried the extrait as well - literally 10-minute fragrance. For the cost to own this, you'd expect much more. I haven't tested it during the summer which is a bummer because I'm curious if this actually repels mosquitoes since it smells like AUTAN so much...

Not a safe blind buy at all. Very synthetic, headache inducing, plasticky and overpriced masterpiece. I know lots of people love it, but to me it is just disgusting.

Will only keep a little bit and the bottle. The rest I will give away to friends.

not my favorite, smells very synthetic to me.