1 Million Royal by Paco Rabanne

1 Million Royal is the latest flanker fragrance of the highly popular line by Paco Rabanne. It was released in 2023 and slowly seems to be getting more attention. It took me a while just to get a hold of the bottle, since it was only recently released in the US a week or so before writing this. How does Royal smell? Does it last long? Is it actually worth a try?

What does 1 Million Royal Smell Like?

Notes include: mandarin orange, bergamot, cardamom, lavender, violet leaf, cedar, sage, benzoin, patchouli

Buy from Sephora: Royal

My Full Review

Here’s how Paco Rabanne describes it: Powered by your inner confidence, enter the 1 Million Royal kingdom with the ultimate fragrance of defiant self-expression, made for you by Paco Rabanne. Unconstrained by convention, find the freedom to live by your own rules with 1 Million Royal: a flamboyant fresh woody blend that collides with a distinctive sensuality to unleash what makes you uniquely you. Claim the stage; you’re the king. It’s time to rise.

1 Million Royal opens up with a blend of notes vying for your attention. The mandarin orange and bergamot citrus are sitting on top of the mix, giving this an initial lightness and brightness.

Underneath, the warm spiciness of the cardamom and benzoin notes are already coming through. Royal will have more of a cardamom spice versus other notes here, but early I get a decent amount of sage and a touch of patchouli. The latter, is only noticeably if I really focus and basically press my nose up against where I sprayed.

In comparison to 1 Million Elixir, this also has a sweetness and amber-like heart thanks to that benzoin. However, Elixir is much sweeter, floral, and vanilla based. Royal seems to have something giving it a light vanilla effect, but the note isn’t actually listed (probably benzoin, creating that vanilla effect).

Royal also shares plenty of similarities with Le Male Airlines by JPG. I have a full bottle of that fragrance and they definitely overlap.

Notably, they share notes of: cardamom, lavender, citrus, and cedar. But, they aren’t exactly the same in terms of smell. Airlines is sweeter and much more cardamom dominant. The cardamom itself seems to be a different type in Royal, spicier with less of the citrusy facets.

I like Royal more than Airlines thus far.

As we move along, the spiciness will tone down. I start to get a greater ratio of the lavender versus the cardamom and the benzoin will also begin to claim the top spot.

That’s mostly what the dry down is all about. A sort of fuzzy vanilla amber aroma of the benzoin, lavender, the remaining cardamom, and a generic fresh woody cedar note.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Royal isn’t a heavy fragrance. Though, it has a lot more power than you think that it does. It’s kind of diffuse and the cloud that it creates around you is much more like a mist for most of the wear.

3-4 hours into the wear I can still smell it on me and I’ve had one other person comment positively on it during my first initial test. This was hours after I had sprayed it on my arm, not even on the usual pulse points.

I’d say at its peak, Royal is probably a 5-8 foot radius cologne, in terms of its projection. After that, it’s going to spend a ton of time in that 3-4 foot range. Not bearing down on you, but I’ve noticed it hanging around without having to press my nose to my skin.

On me, this lasts somewhere in the 8-8.5 hour range. Good enough for most uses, but not incredible either.  Royal is actually a parfum concentration and the performance basically reflects that higher level of perfume.

It does fall slightly short of what I got with Elixir. Almost the same sillage, but Elixir lasts up to 10 hours on me.

Seasonally, probably going to be more of an autumn and winter wear. It’s actually nice in moderate temperatures, so, spring will be fine in most places. That’s especially true in the evenings.

It’s about to officially be summer here in a few days, which has limited a lot of my testing to indoors, as it’s not a fragrance that is built for the heat. It’s actually not terrible, since Royal isn’t overly thick and heavy, just not ideal.

1 Million Royal does skew more towards being a nightlife fragrance, but it isn’t completely out of place in a variety of other situations. It’s just not really a formal type of cologne.

It can really be worn by a man of any age, since it doesn’t have the same level of candy-like sweetness that some other fragrances in the 1 Million series can. It’s very much like 1 Million Prive, in that regard.

As I wrote earlier, I’ve already gotten a complement on Royal and this one indeed feels like it’s going to have mass appeal. I think that I’ll use my bottle mostly for casual and nightlife wear.

Overall Impressions of 1 Million Royal

Overall, do I like 1 Million Royal? Yes, to me it’s on par with Elixir. I do notice the similarities, but these are ultimately different fragrances. Royal is warmer, spicier, and doesn’t have that Elixir sweetness.

I wasn’t sure that I was going to like this and was worried that I’d have a full bottle of the stuff just languishing on my shelf. Royal turned out to be better than I expected and I will get plenty of use out of it.

It’s actually much closer to Le Male Airlines than the other 1 Million scents. It’s like they fused that Gaultier cologne’s DNA with some of the 1 Million fragrances’ and then added more benzoin. All resulting in 1 Million Royal.

I think that the opening is really great. The citrus gives it a nice energy and the balance of the spiciness, benzoin, and lavender is near perfection at that point. Enough sweetness to not be overwhelmed in either the spicy or sweet direction.

Performance is solid. Not a monster projector, but Royal does have a nice ability to project and leave a scent trail. Longevity is about what you’d need in most scenarios.

I recommend giving this one a try, if you’re a fan of the 1 Million series. It’s different of course, but that same sort of vibe and style is present here. I’m glad that I bought it.

Best Men's Colognes

Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with different fragrances, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, I have written hundreds of reviews and other pages about perfumes and colognes.