The Baccarat Rouge 540 scented candle from Maison Francis Kurkdjian is an irresistible combination of natural magic and traditional expertise. The floral, ambery fragrance with delicate woody notes, born from the encounter between Maison Francis Kurkdjian and the House of Baccarat, invites itself into your home. This scented candle subtly exudes its graphic and highly condensed fragrance signature, creating a sophisticated ambience in your home with hints of jasmine, saffron, cedarwood and grey amber.
Hedion
Developed in the 1960s, this fragrance molecule has become one of the most widely used substances in perfumery. In its isolated form, the synthetically obtained substance is reminiscent of delicate jasmine with its floral and very fresh notes with slight hints of lemon. This compound occurs naturally in black tea and jasmine, but differs from them in that it is more airy and radiant. In addition to its transparency and lightness, the fragrance molecule acts as an elegant link between different ingredients and adds freshness, volume and radiance to a composition. For Francis Kurkdjian, this fragrance evokes associations with wind-blown petals.
Ambroxan
Ambroxan is extracted from sclareol, a natural component of clary sage. It was first synthesised in the 1950s and from then on was preferred as an alternative to grey ambergris of animal origin, a substance from the digestive tract of sperm whales. Ambroxan resembles its ambery, woody and mineral fragrance character. An overpowering woody note that lends every composition a sensually modern sillage. Ambroxan has spawned a wide variety of similar fragrance molecules, often referred to as ambered woods.
Virginia cedar
The typical scent emitted when sharpening a pencil: woody, dry, slightly spicy and oily. This North American cedar species, also known as red cedar due to the colour of its wood, belongs to the juniper family and has the botanical name Juniperus virginiana. Various cedarwood essences are used in perfume production, but this one acts as a heart and base note, giving the woody aspect a certain verticality. It differs significantly from the other types of cedar used in perfume compositions: the drier Texas cedar, the animal and leathery Atlas cedar or the balsamic Chinese incense cedar.
Saffron
This spice, obtained from the stigmas of the flowers of a crocus species, is one of the most expensive in the world and is also known as ‘red gold’. Natural saffron is not used in perfume production as it contains safrole, a component that can trigger allergies. However, a comparable effect is produced by using one of its derivatives, safranal. Its scent is extremely powerful, bitter and slightly metallic and lends an inspiring spiciness to a composition thanks to its leathery facets, which are comparable to the smell of tar. Francis Kurkdjian is particularly fond of its effect of neutralising the sweet accents of citrus notes in the top note. The fragrance is often combined with compositions based on oud wood and ambery scents.
