Invictus Platinum

When talking about the Invictus line from Paco Rabbane, most people are going to think Victory, Victory Elixir, Aqua, or maybe the new Parfum. Platinum, however, doesn't seem to get mentioned much. It's also not quite as easy to find as the others. I've seen some people say it's their least favorite in the line, while I've seen others say it's a compliment monster. Not satisfied with this dichotomy I decided it's up to me to make that determination. Let's get into it; Scent: Opening is green, aromatic, and fresh spicy. The primary notes I get are mint, absinthe, lavender, and patchouli. The strongest of the notes are the mint and absinthe. The mint note carries the familiar fresh, spicy, and cooling accord that mint notes are known for. The absinthe is a new note for me, and has a distinct green accord with anise/fennel qualities to it. This is followed by the lavender and patchouli. The lavender is very typical with it's softly spicy and floral aromatic accord, while the patchouli brings a deep earthiness to the base. There's also a bit of grapefruit for some fruity citrus accord, but it takes a backseat to the rest of the notes. The core DNA of the Invictus line is present here, but only in a small dose. The dry down green, fresh spicy, and woody. The primary notes I get are absinthe, mint, patchouli, and cypress. The absinthe and mint carry the same accords from the opening, just dialed back a bit. This is followed by the patchouli and cypress. The patchouli still has some of the earthiness from the opening, but has morphed into more of a sweet patchouli note. The cypress rounds out the dry down with a solid base of woodiness. In the dry down there's a bit more sweetness in the background that is reminiscent of the "bubble-gummy" note found original Invictus, but I'm not sure what note in the official breakdown it's coming from. It could be a mixture of the patchouli and absinthe. Either way, it does a good job of tying in the Invictus DNA to this fragrance. Performance: Initial projection is strong at around 4-6 feet. Sillage is strong as well with an easily noticeable scent trail. After a few hours the projection was about arms length and the scent trail was still noticeable. At the 7 hour mark the projection was the still about arms length but the scent trail was only lightly noticeable. The fragrance lasted somewhere between 8-10 hours before becoming a skin scent. When to wear: This is a perfect spring/summer scent most suitable for daytime wear. It could also work at the office if you go light on the sprays. This wouldn't be my pick for a date night or formal occasions. Blind buy: If you like the core DNA of the Invictus line, or you like green and aromatic fragrances in general, this is a safe blind buy for you. Final verdict: Full disclosure; I have not done a full wearing of the original Invictus. I have sampled it so I am familiar with the scent, but I have not experienced it on my skin from opening to dry down. That being said, it will be hard for me to compare Platinum to the core Invictus DNA. However, on its own it is a great fragrance. I honestly don't understand why this one isn't talked about more or how some can say it's a bad entry in the line. The scent is fresh and invigorating with a bit of sweetness, the performance is respectable, and I got positive attention while wearing it. Unfortunately we're about to head into Autumn where I live, but this will definitely be going into my spring/summer rotation next year. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 6/10

There’s something funny about a fragrance becoming harder to find the exact moment you realize you actually love it. After walking away from the 200ml of Invictus Platinum at least half a dozen times across what felt like every TJ Maxx and Marshalls within driving distance, I finally decided I needed to track it down again — especially once the rumors and reports of discontinuation started surfacing. Nine stores later, last stop of the day, fully convinced the hunt was over... there it was again. And this time, it came home with me. What makes this one interesting is that I approached it backwards. For years I intentionally stayed away from modern fresh designers. I leaned heavily niche, darker, denser, moodier. Fresh blue fragrances just didn’t hold my attention. Over the last six months or so, though, something shifted and I started enjoying this style in a completely different way. And honestly? This may be my favorite Invictus. The listed notes barely tell the full story: absinthe and grapefruit up top, mint and lavender in the heart, cypress and patchouli in the base. There is clearly more happening here than the official breakdown suggests. The absinthe note especially gives this fragrance an identity that separates it from the crowd. It adds this aromatic green sharpness mixed with sweetness and mint that feels incredibly unique without ever becoming challenging. I understand the comparisons people make to fragrances like Le Beau, Bad Boy Cobalt, and that modern sweet-green-blue designer style. The DNA overlap exists. But to my nose, Invictus Platinum handles it better — smoother, cleaner, more mature, and far more balanced. Where some of those fragrances can lean overly youthful, syrupy, or loud, Platinum keeps this refined freshness underneath the sweetness that makes it incredibly wearable. There’s also this clean, soapy quality in the mid and drydown that reminded me immediately of Michael Kors Pour Homme, except here it’s paired with a woody green backbone that keeps everything feeling masculine and polished. It’s green, blue, fresh, woody, semi-sweet, minty, and aromatic all at once without feeling confused. That balancing act is probably why I’m so surprised this one never got more attention. I’ve seen people describe this fragrance as weird, overly minty, or excessively sweet, but my 2022 batch smells absolutely fantastic. Maybe newer batches differ, maybe skin chemistry matters, maybe tastes have shifted — I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that on my skin this thing just works. As for Odyssey Aqua, I actually think it does a respectable job capturing the spirit of this fragrance. But side by side, Platinum is simply better. Better ingredients, cleaner execution, stronger projection, more character. The absinthe note alone gives it a personality the clone can’t fully replicate. I never thought a fresh designer release would become one of my favorite modern fragrances, but here we are. If this truly is discontinued, I completely understand why bottles are disappearing so quickly. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever finish 200ml with the size of my collection... but if I run across another bottle, I’d probably still buy it anyway.

Blind bought a bottle, I dig this very much. Off the rip, you're met with a very sweet scent, oddly, no one note is sticking right out in my face (and if it is, I can't identify it). Definitely too sweet for me right out of the gate... I get a sweet, but fresh, spicy vibe here, it reminds me a bit of Valentino Born in Roma, maybe a tiny bit YSL Y hanging out in there to my nose. As it dries down, the freshness really starts coming out, leaving a sweetness with it, but it moves towards the back of the scent for me. This makes me think of a more refined mall cologne, like Hollister, or a&f, but in its own way. Being 30, I'd say I could definitely wear this, but personally, if I were 40 or older, I'd maybe stay clear of it, it's definitely younger to me. At the same time, still safe for anyone. I feel winter wouldn't treat this very good, but I could wear this any season, day or night, and I'd enjoy it. Edit 4 months later as Spring has started warming things up, and I've worn this a bit more especially these days, and I believe its had a tiny bit of maceration; Still the same vibe, though now I don't find the sweetness overwhelming, but rather very alluring. I get a lot of what I enjoyed in sampling Valentino BiRI, but with much better performance all around. It was a nice 60 or so degree day in my area, and I sprayed this stuff pretty liberally, 12 hours in, and I am still getting nice little wafts off my shirt, and it remains a faint skin scent currently, though I definitely still smell it. Got a couple compliments on it today as well! Good stuff, will definitely enjoy the bottle I have.

After giving this 2 weeks of testing it this is my full review .. i came to a conclusion that this is 100% not for summer or high heat .. its definitely a winter scent but not for the very cold weather but still a winter scent imo .. this is a twist on invictus but with that mossy pineapply nishane hacivat .. its definitely earthy spicy but its also fruity at the same time .. you definitely get a load of fruitiness from the pineapple and the grapefruit.. i know pineapple isn’t listed as a note but either is oakmoss .. but in my box it says it has pineapple and oakmoss ( 2022 batch ) so if you like that type of scent like mont blanc explorer that woody pineapple or nishane hacivat but make it less masculine and more sweet .. this is definitely for you .. the absinthe is present the mint is not that spearmint scent but just a toned down mint you barely get it when it dries down .. it also has a bit of a salty ambery vibe but not as prominent as the oakmoss and cypress .. its a green and yellow scent but its also black somehow .. that’s how i can describe it Its a modern masculine twist on invictus .. the performance is top notch in colder weather but in the high heat it doesn’t perform well at least on my skin Lasts for hours and get you noticed Compliments are good with this one Still not my favorite 7/10 I would get invictus parfum instead its definitely better

***** I think this (they/them person) Eastport below in the comments might have been dropped on their head when “they” were a lil baby. I think it’s a dude ,.. but their political comments make me question that observation. Haters just gonna hate, and this person apparently hates this fragrance. For me.... I think it’s quite nice for Me,.. a 45 year old Trump supporting AMERICA LOVING, MAN. I own over 400 fragrances and this compares to absolutely nothing in my collection. I haven’t yet picked up bad boy cobalt, but that’s about to change if it’s anything like this Invictus platinum . This is a Great addition to my forever expanding collection. I’m like a damn crack head when it comes to fragrances. Take my Trump supporting comment with a grain of salt , I just said it to make this Eastport “person” nervous about life and the reality of it. This is no place for politics,.. kinda like a sport’s ball event. Leave that shit in your head and keep it to yourself.!! I’m lookin at you Eastport person of gender fluid human origin what ever they wanna be called. Sorry Not Sorry. This is a year round fragrance in my opinion, and definitely one for the guys.. (The REAL Ones) ✅