Paco Rabanne 1 Million

Paco Rabanne 1 Million debuted last August in Europe, but it’s never “officially” launched in the U.S. (though it can be purchased at online discounters here). 1 Million was developed by perfumers Christophe Raynaud, Olivier Pescheux and Michel Girard, and it contains grapefruit, blood orange, peppermint, rose, cinnamon, “spice,” blond leather, white woods, amberketal (synthetic ambergris) and patchouli. It’s difficult to review 1 Million because the fragrance is so well blended. Imagine painting precise squares of color (cool purple, faded pink, creamy green and sunny yellow) side by side onto a white canvas using acrylic pigments, then taking a wet brush and running it thru the middle of all the squares — blurring all the colors with one strong sweep of the brush. The resulting image of this rapid “mixing” is like 1 Million: gray (indistinct) in the center but with traces of residual color (individual notes) around the edges.

1 Million smells like “sugar and spice” with a touch of lavender-orange blossom and vanillic amber. It also smells like an upscale (slightly retro) barbershop…

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