Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 450 Eau de Parfum spends most of its life as airy, sugary cotton candy on me–sweet, a touch fruity (with at most, a little lemon zest in the first few hours)–with a drydown that had a suggestion of woods but nothing particularly definable.

• top notes: saffron, jasmine
• heart notes: Ambroxan
• base notes: fir resin, cedar

The opening had a medicinal, almost harsh, characteristic that shifted to sweetened fruit that felt over-ripe, perhaps synthetically sweet over the first five minutes before a zest of lemon helped bring it down a notch. The sweetness became caramelized, deeper, and thicker in the first half hour of wear. It was more in the vein of airy, freshly spun cotton candy. It ended up being quite linear for the majority of its wear, only getting slightly woodier after six hours on my skin.

Application

For testing, I used 1/2 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. 

Longevity

It lasted for three hours until it was a skin-scent and about eight hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were light with noticeable drops after an hour of wear. On my skin, it seemed to wear quite close even when I tested it later with more applied!

Personal Thoughts

While very sweet scents are not my personal preference, I don’t mind trying them out at all; absolutely no hardship to do so, but as a result, it’s a high bar for me to want to buy a full bottle of one. This one has too linear and too close of a wear and shorter longevity than average, so for me, it was kind of a miss all around. Profumum Vanitas or Dulcis in Fundo were better, fairly sweet picks that I’ve tried recently. I have seen a lot of chatter that Ariana Grande’s Cloud is similar, so I might try that at some point for a comparison.

Available Sizes

• 200ml for $575
• 70ml for $300
• 3 x 11ml refills for $180

Where to Buy

• Neiman Marcus
• Nordstrom
• Saks

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 450 Perfume Review

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 450 Perfume Review