Santal 33 vs. Baccarat Rouge 540

Santal 33 by Le Labo and Kurkdjian’s Baccarat Rouge 540 have been two of the most popular and best-selling perfumes of the past few decades. The type of fragrances that you can detect almost anywhere, when walking through a crowd.

Because of this massive success, it often becomes a two way race for many people, as to which on they’d want to buy. A bit odd, considering how different these scents are from one another. However, which of these actually is the better perfume? Continue below for my full comparison.

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Tale of the Tape: Santal 33 vs. BR 540

Santal 33

Notes include: sandalwood, violet, iris, amber, cardamom, leather, papyrus, cedar

Click here to try: Santal 33 on Amazon

Read my original review: Santal 33

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Baccarat Rouge 540

Notes include: saffron, hedione, cedar, ambroxan, fir resin

Click Here to try: BR 540 at Saks

Read my full review: Baccarat Rouge 504 EDP

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Opening

Santal 33 starts off with a blend of cardamom, sandalwood, papyrus, leather, and violet. It has a slight spice, but nothing too much.

People do talk about a dill or a pickle juice sort of aroma with Santal 33. I’ve never gotten too much of that, personally. For some, it may be more prominent, but I doubt it for most people.

Leather and the papyrus are the two interesting notes here to me. Otherwise, this opening act is kind of uninspiring, in my opinion. Later, the development becomes softer, woodier, with a powdery finish. That’s much better.

With Baccarat Rouge, we begin with the saffron note and the jasmine. It’s clean with a resinous and woody base. To me, the jasmine note has a bit of a lemon sort of finish to it. Nothing massive, but it’s always there on me.

Somewhat spicy at times, but the ambroxan notes are really going to start coming through very early in the wear.

Which is better? The opening of Santal might be its weakest point. Going head to head versus BR 540, I’m going to take how the latter of the two starts off.

Edge: BR 540

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Projection

Santal 33 has the lighter sillage of the two. However, it’s certainly not weak and has a pretty darn good projection for the first hours of the wear. I’d say it projects to about a 7 foot radius, at it’s peak.

Not amazing. But, good enough.

Santal doesn’t hit the same level as Baccarat. It’s not a super heavy scent, but it’s always projected well above average for me. It settles down into something more moderate, but it’s peak and sustained power is greater than that of the Le Labo.

Edge: BR 540

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Longevity

On my skin, Santal 33 lasts for 7-8 hours. It’s fairly good performance, but nothing elite by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s a fairly easy win for Baccarat in this category. It has a wider range of outcomes for me, but it has a much higher ceiling than does the Le Labo.

I get a minimum of 8 hours of wear out of BR 540 and up to 12 hours. Somewhere around 10 is what I expect, of course that can fall short or exceed it by a good margin.

Edge: BR 540

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Versatility

Here’s a category where I will give an edge to Santal 33. I do think that it’s a bit more versatile in warmer weather. Closer to being a year round perfume versus the autumn and winter dominance of BR 540.

The Le Labo is also closer to a more genuine unisex. Most guys would rather wear Santal 33 versus Baccarat (though some can pull off either).

Edge: Santal 33

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Overall Scent

Overall, which of these perfumes do I prefer? In terms of how each smells, it’s a closer race than you might expect from the outcomes of the categories. The scent of each of them is pretty much dead even, in my opinion.

So, a lot of this is going to come down to the performance. Also, the fact that Baccarat has a better start.

With Santal 33, I really enjoy the dry down. It’s what saves the perfume from just being pure hype. Slightly sweet, powdery, and woody. The violet, amber, iris, leather, and woods are really good.

I actually prefer the dry down period a bit more than Baccarat. Those notes are more appealing than the cedar and ambroxan which come on stronger in the tail end of Baccarat (which isn’t bad at all).

Each of these perfumes, does feature something that can be bothersome to a certain percentage of people, which is why I’d recommend sampling before a full purchase to see if you’re one of them.

With Santal 33, it’s the so-called ‘pickle juice’ smell. With Baccarat, it’s the ‘dentist office/plastic’ aroma that some get. Neither is present on me, but I guess some people can get some odd smells out of these perfumes.

I give a very slight edge to Baccarat for the win. It’s really a neck and neck battle between them. I suppose you could also say that Santal 33 has more value based on price, but both of these are expensive fragrances.

Here’s my posts on cheaper alternative to each, if you want to save some money: Baccarat Rouge Alternatives, Santal 33 

Winner: Baccarat Rouge 540