Don’t know if this is necessarily a sale. This is the lowest I’ve seen Carlisle anywhere for full bottle. Even checked Jomashop and Maxaroma (my other regular purchase stops). Seems their prices are solid on the other PDMs as well if anyone is looking for them. https://microperfumes.com/collections/parfums-de-marly/products/carlisle-sample-vial

Wore my sample of Baccarat Rouge 540 for the second time today because I wanted to make sure my first impression wasn’t a fluke. Going in, I was hoping for something specific. On paper this should have been beautiful with jasmine (Grandiflorum and Egyptian), saffron, a little cedar grounding it out, then that musky base settling into skin. I expected florals up front, spice weaving through, a controlled sweetness, and then a warm, masculine dry down. That’s not what happened on me. What I got almost immediately was the burnt sugar/caramel, very prominent, paired with a mineral, saltiness. And yes… I understand now why some people say “dentist’s office.” There’s a sterile, almost clinical shimmer underneath the sweetness. The florals never really bloomed. If they’re there, they’re buried under the toasted sugar and that mineral cloud. Then the strangest part was that I went nose blind to it fairly quickly. I’d catch faint flashes if I moved, but for the most part it disappeared to my own nose while possibly still projecting, but I received no compliments, nor was I asked if I had just come out of the dentist's office. I understand why it’s polarizing. It’s intense, sort of synthetic, and engineered to radiate. But for me? I was hoping for floral warmth wrapped in spice on soft wood. What I experienced was sweet-mineral abstraction. On my skin, the myth and the reality didn’t quite align.