Baccarat Rouge

[happygertie]

I wonder if I'm the only person in the world that hates the small of baccarat rouge 540. Everyone raved about it so due to the price I bought a dupe to try first. It was rank and made my feel sick as if a migraine was coming on.

I thought no way can everyone be raving about that and assumed I had a dodgy dupe.

I recently got a 10ml sample bottle of the real thing and it is equally as rank. It has a weird overpowered toxic smell with an undertone of teenage boy BO! I had to wash it off as it was making feel so nauseous and I can still smell it now when thinking about it.

I work in a school and there are a few kids with asthma and I was worried I would trigger them in to an attack if I wore in class.

Why are people going crazy for this minging perfume!

It's got kind of a cult following and it's fine not to like it. That doesn't make it bad, it's just not your cup of tea. Highly unlikely to give a child an asthma attack.

I don't like it. But others do. And that's ok

Highly unlikely to give a child an asthma attack

While I have never knowingly smelled Baccarat Rouge I absolutely have got whiffs of other people's perfume at work and yes, sometimes they have given me an asthma attack.

I don't even have v bad asthma.

In a work environment or enclosed space it's very likely that there will be people who don't want to smell your perfume for health reasons.

It's not compulsory to like it because others do. People like different things.

I’ve not smelt it (well not knowingly) but just reading through the comments on Fragrantica it’s certainly a marmite fragrance.

I find that fascinating. I wonder what it is about that combination of notes make some people love it and others revolted? The science of perfumery is so fascinating.

Is there a book or a Ted talk/documentary that explains this in more detail?

I agree, it’s not nice.

as for asthma attack, I am allergic to something in Killians Good girl gone bad (sadly as I love it!), few of the Tom Ford ones and Narciso Rodriquez for her. It’s not an asthma attack but it is incessant sneezing, irritation of the nose lining, slightly swollen upper lip and inflamed skin.

I've never knowingly smelled BR but a quick look on Fragrantica gives jasmine high up in the notes. Jasmine (often referred to as indolic jasmine) if used in a too heavy-handed way turns into at best, overripe fruit, and at worst, overripe nappy.
I teach teenagers and there are two boys that I've asked to sniff (not in a pervy way😂) to see what it is they're wearing, as both smell of armpits the morning after a strong curry to me. They are both soapy clean boys, but their scents are definitely not. One wears a Paco Rabanne one, and the other a niche Italian one. Haven't the heart to tell either they smell (to me) rank. When I looked up the scents, both were very Oudh heavy.

Yes! I bought a dupe before buying the real thing and thought it smelled horrible, but loads of people told me I smelled amazing! I thought it must be a dodgy dupe. Glad you posted this as I was so sure it must be amazing irl!

I adore it, and all the similar ones like Ariana grande cloud. My boss thinks I smell like dettol when I wear it
It's an addictive scent to me that's really hard to describe

I really detest the original but like the Zara red temptation dupe!

Sorry hit send too soon. The original has a medicinal note to me which the Zara doesn’t.

One man's toxic sludge is another man's potpourri.

I like it and I get a lot of compliments when I wear it.

What @chelle0 said. Perfume is very personal, you don't have to like them all.

How could someone form an opinion on something they've never actually smelled? A dupe?? Dupes are usually awful.

I have the dupe from PP and the real thing and they're identical to me

Most perfume dupes use exactly the same ingredients and proportions as the "real" thing. They just don't put it in posh boxes and have to pay Keira and Johnny to advertise it tbf.

I'd also say that (despite just being an amateur enthusiast - although I'm one with about 300 bottles of perfume of which about 60 are dupes as well as a perfume blogger) it's easy to know if you're probably not going to like a perfume if you know what notes you don't like. I know that I'm not going to like anything with oudh in it.

What I do find interesting is that
Baccarat/red temptation/cloud etc are all "dupes" or similar but the notes are totally different when you look them up
Like how do they all smell similar but with totally different notes

Yep, most of the price you pay with big brands is to cover their marketing and advertising expenditure. And of course , however much it costs to get the 'nose' to come up with the formula in the first place. Which is where there is some moral discord, obviously. Whether or not it's right for one company to benefit from the hard work and initial expenditure of another is an argument in itself.
But in terms of are dupes rubbish? No, in my experience not at all. I have some excellent ones where I can't tell the difference.

On topic, I'm not a fan of BR540 as it's such a 'big' smell. On paper looking at the notes I should love it, but it just smells cloying, jammy and overly sweet to me. It falls foul of the sort of people who spray it super abundantly because they want everyone to know they're wearing it. It's the olfactory equivalent of a Terry towelling tracksuit with Juicy Couture stitched on the arse.

YES op, I did exactly the same and also hated it! I did however love the Lost Cherry dupe 😋. Sadly can't stretch to the real thing but that's ok as I love the dupe

Interesting that some love it and others hate it.
I get that there's different strokes or different folks, it's just the overwhelming positive reviews, cult like following and price tag is totally at odds with what I smell! As it is revolting to me!

Gosh, some posters 🙄 I am fully aware I don't have to love it - I forgot posts on MN are interspaced with responses from condescending grumps pointing out the obvious!

BR is not for everyone. I still have a full bottle of it sitting on my dresser. I've used it a few times and I just can't get over that strong smell. I've heard people said it smalls different on everyone. Maybe that's true.

I bought the dupe and thought it was awful,.like Lynx Africa mixed with TCP

Thought it might be a shit dupe so tried it for real a few weeks ago - nope, still gross. Turns out the dupe was very good!

That is the perfect description, but with a slight after smell of sweaty teenage boy bedroom.

I have a few dupes and they are very very good but always somehow less rich and nuanced than the real thing. There are always tiny ingredients that won’t get hit, some people notice and some don’t. But over all I agree with another poster, the dupe is absolutely the way to know if you’ll like a perfume on you, day after day, and how it settles and feels on you.

Some like an underlying dirty scent. I do. Can’t put my finger on what the note is, maybe tobacco. I want to hate it and don’t!