1 Million Royal

I decided to pick this up before the winter months begin over here in the Northern Hemisphere where I live. I work in a climate controlled office environment, so I figured I would give this 1 Million flanker a try since the reviews I read about it had me interested. After wearing it several times this week, I was very pleased with my purchase and can't wait to spray it a bit more liberally when it's cooler outside and I am hitting the town for an evening out on the weekend. 1 Million Royal opens up with a blend of notes - The mandarin orange and bergamot citrus are sitting on top of the mix, giving this an initial lightness and brightness. Underneath, the warm spiciness of the cardamom and benzoin notes are already coming through. Royal will have more of a cardamom spice versus other notes here, but early I get a decent amount of sage and a touch of patchouli. Royal seems to have something giving it a light vanilla effect, but the note isn’t actually listed (probably benzoin, creating that sensation). Royal isn’t a heavy fragrance. Though, it has a lot more power than you think that it does. It’s kind of diffuse and the cloud that it creates around you is much more like a mist for most of the wear. Which is why if you keep the sprays down to 3 or less like I did, you can still wear this at the office. When you go out on a date night or out with friends, you can turn up the sprays to really get the full effect. 3-4 hours into the wear I can still smell it on me and I’ve had one other person comment positively on it during my first initial test. This was hours after I had sprayed it 2-3 times around my neck and chest. I’d say at its peak, Royal is probably a 5-8 foot radius cologne, in terms of its projection. After that, it’s going to spend a ton of time in that 3-4 foot range. Not bearing down on you, but I’ve noticed it hanging around without having to press my nose to my skin. On me, this lasts somewhere in 10 hour range before fading to a skin scent, just short of being a 12 hour beast. Royal is actually a parfum concentration and the performance basically reflects that higher level of perfume. I see all of these reviews stating this is "weak" and "gone in 30 minutes." I think these folk are going nose blind. My bottle is about 18 months old, and has zero performance issues. Seasonally, this is easily a three season fragrance, ranging from early spring, and easily through the autumn and winter. I can see my self wearing this during the day or evening, so by my standard, I'd say this is a pretty versatile fragrance which really adds to its value. It can really be worn by a man of any age, since it doesn’t have the same level of candy-like sweetness that some other fragrances in the 1 Million series can. I'm 44 years old, and I do not get any sort of "juvenile" vibe from this. Granted, I do like and own a very wide range of fragrances from classic to modern, so I can't say I typically place ages on most scents. If you can find this for around $55-$60 dollars (1.7 oz) like I did online, then you should definitely consider picking this up. At that price point 1 Million Royal is a fantastic value that is a crowd pleaser that is certainly going to get you a few compliments (at least my girlfriend seems to really like it lol).

I'll keep this review short. If you're comparing 1 million edt to this. This is better than the original 1 Million EDT. If you've worn your share of Paco Rabanne fragrances this is a mixture of a few. Firstly they toned down the sweetness of one million, enough where people won't question if you've got your wife, girlfriend or mistress's perfume on. Then they took bits and pieces of other Paco Rabanne fragrances such as Black L'Exces (2012) in the top notes. By the dry down you've got this very wearable version of Invictus (EDT). This shows Paco Rabanne still has the power to sell anything in those fancy gold bricks and it'll sell. They should make One Million Dish cleaner next in one of those little gold bottles similar to dawn power wash spray. decatuple the price of Dawn's asking price and you'll make a fortune! Comparing this to Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Elixir. This has no mint, this has a bit less sweetness as elixir can be a bit exhausting to wear daily. Of the two I prefer this a lot more. Both are made with the same perfume Quentin Bisch. If you like one, you'll like the other. its an EDP so it will improve with time, right now it's struggling to project, possibly due to the heavier ingredients used in this perfume. I'll admit I was a bit upset when I found out this wasn't an EDT. Quentin Bisch had no problem making Issey Miyake - Le Sel D'Issey (edt) a room filling beast mode fragrance and that's an EDT. To me this is way better than 1 million edt. I had an original bottle from 2008/2009 as I was 19 give or take when this released and I still didn't get the appeal. I loved the original Black XS. However, 1 million edt and invictus edt were ok, nothing life changing but by pure XS it was such a huge disappointment that I gave up on Paco Rabanne for over a decade. I had no interest in trying anything new they put out. Did they get a new creative director recently? If you want some weird niche fragrance that is so challenging you can only wear it twice a year, this isn't it. Spend your parents money somewhere else! Why are you here? This was designed to get complements, to be as mass appealing as possible and most importantly make money, this isn't a wearable abstract art piece that almost no one will understand, let alone appreciate in 3 lifetimes.

A women's prospective: Oh my gawd!!! Love!!! Just buy it! Go, what are you waiting for? I'll be here waiting ^_~ lol Ahhhhh ma-zing! Back story: So the RED in the 1 Million Royal PR winked at me and caught my eye. Meh, let's see what this "new one" is all about, I thought to myself in a dismissive manner. "Can't be too different from the other Millions", I imagined. Picked it up, thought "okay the red is cute and catchy". Sniffed the bottle. Immediately grabbed those paper samples and spritz away letting it land all over my fingers and inner wrist. Review: OH MY FREAKING DELICIOUS SEXY BEAST! It turned me on! Its a gourmand caramel vanilla and sex. Really, idk. Didn't even read the notes, lol! As with Paco Rabanne, a little goes a long way. The notes make it sound like its a cool weather fragrance, but the sexiness demands attention. This fragrance pins you to the wall, seductively inhales you, feels your pulse speed up. Presses his salty sweaty body on you and kisses you so sweetly. It brings out your deep carnal desires. It hints Althaïr Parfums de Marly with that caramel amber which I just ADORE. I'm so in love with Althaïr. However, Althaïr is creamier, more refined, just elegant. He owns 65% of his company's shares and only shows up for important board meetings as he's too busy vacationing around the world. 1 Million Royal is that hustler that despite the naysayers, made it, baby! He's proud of his rough roots and is now a baller. A sexy, confident, naughty baller. So yeah, that's my review, sigh, hope it helps ツ

Just got this yesterday, so this is my first impressions. I'll wear it a bunch, maybe it changes with time, maybe not. This is a very easy to wear, mass appealing scent. It smells sweet and fresh at the same time but loses the freshness at it dryes down, has a nice lavander and cardamom note, lasts a long time on skin but doesn't project as much as other 1 million flankers. It's not intimate, but nowhere near parfum levels. Because of this, I think this is a great versatile, casual, easy to wear winter/fall/spring scent. The scent itself is not that great. It's still good, again, very mass appealing, sexy and easy, but it's kinda boring in a way. It's like you can't go wrong with it, it will not be the best smelling in your collection, it's not unique, but it will do the trick 99% of the time and will not bother anyone. Scent: 7,5/10 Projection: 6,5/10 Longevity: 8,5/10 Quality: 7/10 Versatility: 9/10 Price/value: 7,5/10 Seasons: Winter, fall, spring Situations: Dumb reach, casual wear, going out, date, and maybe work/school Age: Any age really, just be older than 14 and youger than 65, but I guess it suits more the 20/40 range. Masculine scent but has a nice unisex touch. Worth buying? If you collection is not that big (I'd guess less than 15), and you are looking for this profile, it's worth it. If not, there are definatelly better scents out there, even in the 1 million line, or maybe even in your collection already. For my needs it's perfect, I will be keeping this one for sure.

Previously wasn’t a huge fan of the original 1 Million but my fiancé had me sniff this while we were travelling through Spain and I was captivated right away. It literally wasn’t even on my radar but I had to buy a bottle right when I got home. Luckily for me, it seems to have been “discontinued” by my local Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada) so I snagged a 100ML for under $100CAD (better price than even discounters!). I’d say this is a very mature, masculine fragrance. I think it’s versatile enough to wear throughout the seasons but is especially suited to fall and winter for sure (which I’m excited for considering my summer purchase) as it’s very sweet yet warm and inviting. I also think it’s better suited to the evening personally. The combo of the benzoine and patchouli at the base give it depth and sophistication. When I initially smelled it after the first spray, it reminded me of a spicy watermelon but I don’t know if that’s really the best way to describe it (my nose is still developing). Could be a combo of some of the notes (cardamom, sage, tangerine) creating a false impression but either way, if you are looking for a more mature yet still sweet and alluring fragrance, I think this one is worth trying out. Also a good playful, party fragrance (albeit during colder months) Not sure if it’s blind buy safe, but certainly my favourite and only liked flanker from the 1 Million line 👀 (although I also enjoyed the Lucky flanker also) Overall rating, 8.3/10