Baccarat Rouge 540: from luxury collector’s item to darling of the masses

The first time my nose came into contact with this sweet, bright fragrance was during a team meeting. My colleague Stephanie Vinzens whirled through the door and filled the otherwise rather musty meeting room with an aroma that screamed «potentially addictive». After a few guesses, she revealed the secret of her perfume: she was wearing Baccarat Rouge 540 by Maison Francis Kurkdjian, MFK for short.

Baccarat Rouge 540 is no longer a hidden gem. Perfume connoisseurs even turned to social media to express their anger at the fact that you can find it everywhere these days – partly because it’s often copied by other manufacturers. The original has a proud price, which – hard to believe – was once much higher.

Fragrances

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540

Eau de parfum, 70 ml

29

Fragrances

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540

Eau de parfum, 70 ml

29

Belated birthday wishes, Baccarat

The fragrance was created in 2014 by Parisian perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. He wanted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of French crystal manufacturer Baccarat, named after the town where it was founded, 150 km north-west of Basel. The perfume was just one of many limited edition collector’s items made for the occasion. Baccarat gave the woody, slightly floral amber fragrance a 500-gramme crystal bottle with 160 polished surfaces. Back then 250 bottles at 100 millilitres each were produced and sold for 3000 euros a bottle.

The limited edition wasn’t the end of the story. The fragrance was so well received that it was included in the standard range of luxury perfume house Maison Francis Kurkdjian just one year later, making it accessible to the masses. With resounding success. According to Kurkdjian, the six-month supply was sold out after just one month. Since then, the eau de parfum has been expanded to include candles, hand soaps, body lotions and oils.

The 540

Kurkdjian’s creation received even more attention from TikTok. At the time of my research, the hashtag #baccaratrouge540 had over 540 million views. A fitting number when you think of the perfume’s name. But what does the 540 in the name actually stand for?

The answer can be found in the manufacturing process of the red crystal characteristic of Baccarat crystal manufactory. To achieve exactly this colour, a secret mixture of minerals including 24-carat gold dust is added to clear crystal. This crystal then spends five hours in a furnace where it’s heated to 540° Celsius, giving the mass a bright red colour that Baccarat describes as «rouge à l’or» or golden red. Although the handmade crystal bottles of the limited anniversary edition weren’t red at the time, the separate wand-like crystal applicator which came with the luxurious perfume set was.

The modern version, now available in stores, is considerably less ostentatious: the clear, white glass bottle with golden elements bears a red label in homage to the source of inspiration. If you look through the back of the bottle, you’ll see the image of a red chandelier. A kind of unofficial signet of the glass manufacturer. Meanwhile, the MFK perfume house has also launched an extrait version in a Baccarat red glass bottle, a slightly more concentrated version of the eau de parfum.

What a crystal factory smells like

As a perfumer, where do you start when you want to condense the soul of a glassworks into a tiny little bottle? Kurkdjian began by asking himself the question: What is Baccarat anyway? «Baccarat is red crystal. Making crystal is the real alchemy. It was this alchemy between mineral, fire and craftsmanship that I wanted to translate into this perfume,» Kurkdjian explains in an interview with Vogue. «Crystal is very bright and very heavy.» A contrast that appealed to Kurkdjian. He made it his mission to create an enveloping fragrance that was as airy as possible. «Even though these are two very contradictory notions in perfumery.»

You might expect a complex recipe to emerge from these thoughts. However, in the case of Baccarat Rouge 540, it’s surprisingly short compared to other fragrances. The key fragrance notes are:

Hedione, a synthetic fragrance molecule that reflects a blend of floral jasmine and citrusy, light freshness.

Ambroxan is obtained from clary sage. The warm, woody fragrance has replaced the so-called grey ambergris in perfume production, which Kurkdjian was inspired by: a rare and therefore expensive animal raw material obtained from the excrement of the sperm whale.

Virginian cedar, also known as red cedar, doesn’t come from a cedar plant unlike the name suggests. The plant belongs to the juniper genus, but smells similar to cedar, which is why the fragrance is classified as a cedar note in the perfume world. The fragrance is described as dry, spicy and woody.

Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world and is therefore often referred to as «red gold» (very appropriate for this fragrance). According to MFK, however, natural saffron isn’t used in the production of perfumes, but a derivative. This gives the perfume a powerful, bitter, slightly metallic and leathery note.

The result is a moderate, sweet, light fragrance that, according to Kurkdjian, is «very universal» and positions itself as neither a men’s nor a women’s fragrance. Apparently, it’s also used as a room fragrance in the lobby of the Baccarat Hotel in New York City.

Isn’t that...? Copies are on the rise

So much success attracts imitators who produce similar smelling alternatives at lower prices. There are plenty of recommendations on social media. Frequently mentioned copycats include Zara’s «Red Temptation», the «Beija Flor Elasti-Cream» and the «Cheirosa 68 Bodyspray» from the same Sol de Janeiro line, «Ana Abiyedh Rouge» by Lattafa Perfumes and «Déja Vu Mood» by the brand & Other Stories. I’d like to emphasise, these are by no means products that smell exactly the same, let alone use the same fragrances one-to-one. Rather, they’re options that give you a similar feeling. And yes, an untrained nose like mine may mistake one for the fantastic original…

This article was published as part of our Focus Week dedicated to the colour red. Seven days, seven stories. Read more about our red-themed week and all the articles published so far here: