PACO RABANNE
1 MILLION PARFUM

2020

PERFUMER
Christophe Raynaud
Quentin Bisch

Tuberose
Salt
Solar notes
Ambergris
Leather
Monoi Oil
Cashmeran
Labdanum
Pine

As someone who dislikes the original EDT & the Elixir, I was glad to see that the Parfum flanker took a different route and even though it’s still not a love for me, I could see this being favorable for a lot of people, including ones not fan of the regular DNA.

What I took away from the experience I have with the original, is that the opening is okay, but that it’s ultimately a cloyingly sweet mess and I never bothered to check out any of the other flankers that have been released since. 1 Million Parfum is a more tropical take, with a strong tuberose note. It has salt and ambergris listed as well and there’s a hint of that in the opening, but I don’t really get an aquatic or marine vibe from this, it’s overpowered by sweetness.

I don’t think it gets as sweet as the original though, or at least it’s not the bubblegum type of sweetness as much. The tuberose gives it a shampoo feel and it’s very unisex, for most people probably on the feminine side of the spectrum.

1 Million Parfum is very reminiscent of some other sweeter tuberose fragrances, in particular Franck Boclet Cocaine, but it’s even sweeter and a bit denser/heavier. Which helps with the performance. Longevity on my skin was fine and so was projection, but you lose a lot of the nuances quickly as the sweetness becomes stronger. At the end of the day, this isn’t my cup of tea, but it feels like a solid flanker nonetheless. Have you tried it?