Our take
What does 1 Million smell like?
Launched in 2008 in its gold-ingot bottle, 1 Million embraced a flashy masculinity from day one. Christophe Raynaud, Olivier Pescheux and Michel Girard built a spicy woody scent that is both simple and ruthlessly effective. The opening is bright: grapefruit, mandarin and mint give a fresh, almost tangy sparkle. Cinnamon arrives quickly, warm and sugary, flanked by a discreet rose and spices that round out the heart. The amber-leather base, reinforced by patchouli, leaves an impression of sweet leather and blond wood that lingers on clothes for a long time. It is a going-out fragrance tuned for instant appeal, and its accord inspired a whole generation of sweet masculines.
When to wear it
For nights out in cooler weather, easy on the sprays. It is a big hit with younger men who like sweet, noticeable scents.
The story of 1 Million
In 2008 Paco Rabanne, owned by Puig, wanted a men's scent for a generation that had never seen the designer's metal dresses. The answer was a gold bar sitting on the bathroom shelf. The name and the ads played on easy money and humour, with a man who gets everything at the snap of his fingers. The timing added an edge, since 2008 was the year of the financial crash. A fragrance celebrating flashy gold could easily have flopped. The opposite happened, and the provocation won over young men first. Success turned it into a franchise. Lady Million followed in 2010 in a diamond-shaped bottle. The men's line kept growing through variations like 1 Million Intense, 1 Million Privé and 1 Million Lucky, each with a recoloured ingot. The object-bottle formula came back in 2013 with the Invictus trophy. Looking back, 1 Million mostly made sugar acceptable in mainstream men's perfume, at a time when most men still wore fresh and aquatic scents.
Our detailed review
Fresher than people expect, the opening flashes grapefruit and mint with an almost chewing-gum feel, all gone within fifteen minutes. Cinnamon arrives early and sets the tone. It is not a sharp kitchen spice but a candied one, close to warm pastry, with a rose somewhere behind it. Between the first and third hour the scent is at its best: sweet, coppery and warm. Then the amber-leather base takes over and clings to fabric until the next morning. There is nothing animal about this leather. It is sugary and smooth, almost plastic. That is where we lose interest. The other problem is ubiquity. You can pick it out across a room, and it now suggests student parties more than the gold bar on the box. It suits a young man who wants a safe going-out scent that works on the first night. Anyone after bare wood or restraint will dislike it, and so will their open-plan colleagues.
1 Million vs its rivals
YSL's Tuxedo shares patchouli and spice but swaps sugary cinnamon for black violet and juniper. Darker and drier, it targets the same night out for an older man. Sauvage Elixir is the closest on paper, with cinnamon, grapefruit, amber and patchouli. Lavender, liquorice and nutmeg make it denser and less candied, though. Darley from Parfums de Marly takes mint, cinnamon, rose and patchouli and sets them on a lavender and tonka fougère. It is the most refined of the three, with orange blossom softening things without piling on the sugar. For a student party or a first date, 1 Million gets the job done. To grow up without changing the mood, move to Sauvage Elixir. For polish, Darley.
Longevity, projection and use
For an eau de toilette, an intensity of 4 out of 5 is unusual, and 1 Million often lasts like an eau de parfum. Expect six to nine hours on skin and much longer on a jacket or shirt collar. Projection is strong for two or three hours. One or two sprays are enough, on the neck or on the chest under your shirt to soften the throw. Three will saturate a room. This is an evening scent for cool weather, from autumn through winter. In summer or at the office, the sugary cinnamon quickly weighs on the people around you.
It belongs to the Woody, Spicy family. 1 Million is one of 9 creations by Paco Rabanne in our encyclopedia.
