1 Million Royal Eau de Parfum

Anyone who finds the 1 Million flankers too sweet should look at Rabanne 1 Million Royal Eau de Parfum, which is the clean, herbal one in the family and barely sweet at all.

Cardamom opens it with that cool camphorous spice, and tangerine and bergamot sit either side of it, the first soft and sweet, the second bitter and faintly floral. It is a bright, dry, slightly soapy opening and it sets up what follows rather than contrasting with it.

The heart is the point of the fragrance. Lavender leads, handled clean and herbal rather than powdery, sage adds a dry greyish green bitterness, and violet leaf brings that cold, sappy, cucumber like smell of crushed stems. Three materials pulling in the same direction, which gives the middle an unusual clarity for this house.

The base keeps it grown up. Benzoin adds a soft balsamic sweetness, the only real sugar in the composition, cedarwood is dry and splintery, and patchouli puts cool soil underneath. The finish is calm, dry and faintly powdery, and it stays that way rather than sweetening up as the hours pass, which is rare in this family.

That makes this the most wearable of the 1 Million flankers in daylight and in warm weather, and the one that works in an office. It lasts well as an eau de parfum without shouting, which is a useful combination, and it reads masculine while being easy enough for anyone to wear. Christophe Raynaud and Quentin Bisch composed it, and it appeared in 2023. Rabanne, once the Paris fashion house of the designer Paco Rabanne and now owned outright by the Spanish group Puig, has built its men's catalogue on this family and on Invictus.