Flash Gordon and a Baccarat Rouge 540 Dupe
Want a cheaper Baccarat Rouge 540 Eau de Parfum dupe? Who doesn’t? At $300 for 2.7 oz Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s cult favorite and much beloved Baccarat Rouge 540 isn’t the cheapest bottle of fragrance I’ve had the pleasure of purchasing but it is totally worth it if you collect and appreciate luxury fragrances! To me Baccarat Rouge 540 smells like luxurious cotton candy. Some find it harsh, others say it smells like an exotic spice market, where as others claim it gives them a headache but to me it smells like a delicious, exotic cotton candy. It’s gorgeous and incredibly difficult to describe to someone who’s never smelled it. But trust me, it smells amazing!
That being said it doesn’t come cheap but it is one of my more cherished pieces in my fragrance collection and I don’t regret indulging in it.
That being said not everyone wants to spend that much on a fragrance so here’s a cheaper dupe to Baccarat Rouge 540!
What’s the Baccarat Rouge 540 dupe? You may find it surprising that Baccarat Rouge 540 dupe is Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Eau de Parfum. Yup, a celeb perfume! I purchased R.E.M. Eau de Parfum on a blind buy! Honestly, blind buys can go either way! You can get something brilliant or you can get something really bad. It’s rare for me to blind buy something I hate so, I took a chance on R.E.M. The one bad thing I did was purchase the smaller bottle. I dunno why but at the time I was like eh, I’ll just go small. Which is a really bad choice as you get so much more bang for your buck by getting the 3.7 oz bottle. It deserves to be mentioned I don’t really love celeb fragrances and I’m not an Ariana fan girl but props to Ari for creating some truly wicked fragrances! Cloud is an absolutely gorgeous perfume that I simply can’t get enough of which is why R.E.M seemed like a good follow up purchase!
The story goes that one fine Fall day I placed an order at Ulta and it included a bottle of R.E.M. and within two days it arrived at my door. That was back when shipping was a little faster before the Holidays struck. The very first thing I noticed was the incredible artwork on the box and it immediately took me back to the day I fell in love with Queen, Timothy Dalton, and Ornella Muti. I think I was like 7 or 8 when I first saw Flash Gordon for the first time and it forever changed my life! I swear the art on the box of R.E.M. instantly had me thinking of Princess Aura! To this day I have a framed photo of Prince Barin and Princess Aura in my home office. It’s the famed scene where Princess Barin yanked Princess Aura’s head back in anger. I was obviously a weird kid because no Disney Princess for me instead I was lusting after two-timing Sci-Fi princesses. Needless to say you either appreciate the pure camp genius of Flash Gordon or you don’t. I think it’s a marvel movie masterpiece.
The bottle is pretty awesome as well! The crystal base that holds the fragrance is plastic and cheesy but if you aren’t actually holding it and it’s being displayed on your vanity it’s very elegant looking. Sort of a nod to the Fortress of Solitude and the memory crystals it holds inside or even a little bit Jivago looking!
Another masterpiece is R.E.M.! Wow! You think they ran this by Ariana and she was like yup, smells like Baccarat Rouge 540 I approve put it to market! The fragrances share some of the same notes but not all! For example lavender plays an important role in both fragrances but the similarities sort of end there as Ari’s fragrances takes on some interesting gourmand notes like salted caramel and marshmallow. It’s a rather complex blend with a variety of notes like pear blossom, fig, quince, tonka bean, white musk, and even sandalwood. It’s dubbed a woodsy musk but to me and on me it smells very gourmand-y.
At first mist I get salted caramel and fluffy marshmallow. It’s actually very harsh just like BR540 when you smell it from the bottle but misting it on creates an entirely different element to the fragrance. It’s hard to say exactly what it is I’m smelling but there’s warmth here and fluffiness. I smell lavender but it’s enveloped in a cozy layer of dessert! Not a sweet dessert but more a rich, decadent one.
BR540 has more depth, more richness, better throw and a longer wear! But this does come in at a very close second to that more expensive fragrance. This wears for a shorter time and it wears closer to the skin. But it’s still pretty brilliant for a cheaper celebrity fragrance!
Now one wonders what sort of evil master plan I could create if I mixed R.E.M. and Cloud? Hmmmm…..
Something to try.
If you love BR540 I’d highly recommend checking out R.E.M.