Barakkat Rouge Attar

Barakkat Rouge Attar is Pearl Fragrances' take on the widely-cloned Baccarat Rouge 540 profile, arriving here via Fragrance World's own Barakkat Rouge 540, itself a well-known budget interpretation of the Maison Francis Kurkdjian original. Because that sweet, mineral saffron-amber accord is one of the most reproduced fragrance signatures of the last decade, this oil has plenty of reference points to draw on, and it shows: saffron and jasmine open with real sweetness, and the amber-ambergris heart is generous and warm from early in the wear, capturing the addictive, glowing character that made the original such a phenomenon. What's missing is the mineral, almost cold facet that gives the real Baccarat Rouge 540 its distinctive, slightly clinical edge alongside the sweetness - here it reads as a straightforwardly cosy, sweet amber rather than that unusual warm-cool contrast. The cedarwood-musk base is quiet and supportive rather than distinctive. Performance is modest, as with the rest of this range, fading to a soft sweet-amber skin scent within a couple of hours. A recognisable, if simplified, echo of a scent so widely copied that this version arrives several steps removed from the source.