Dior Homme Intense vs 1 Million Comparison

So, in today’s cologne comparison, I’m going to do one between two highly popular scents for men: Dior Homme Intense versus 1 Million by Paco Rabanne. In this post, I’m going to break down how each compares head to head, and ultimately which one smells the best. For more detail on each fragrance, I have included my original full wear reviews on them, linked below.

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Tale of the Tape

Dior Homme Intense

Notes include: pear, iris, vetiver, ambrette, lavender, cedar

Click here to try: Christian Dior Dior Men Intense Eau de Parfum Spray, 3.4 Ounce

Read My Full Review: Dior Homme Intense Review

1 Million

Notes include: grapefruit, blood orange, rose, mint, cinnamon, amber, leather, patchouli, and more

Click here to try: Paco Rabanne 1 Million Eau de Toilette Spray for Men, 3.4 Fluid Ounce

Read my original review: 1 Million Cologne Review

Opening

Dior Homme Intense has one of my favorite 15-20 minute fragrance openings ever. I absolutely love spraying this cologne onto my skin and getting hit with the wonderful aroma. Cedar, vetiver, and amber notes blend to create a warm and woody scent that is amazing.

With that in mind, 1 Million would have to start out with something at least as fantastic in order to take this category.

It doesn’t. That’s not to say that it smells bad, but this is the stage where 1 Million has its infamous grape bubblegum aroma. I actually like it quite a bit, but it doesn’t touch the Dior.

That initial burst has lots of orange and grapefruit. But, you’re also already getting the rose heart and leather involved as well. Beyond that, there is the spiciness that is most prominent in the first half of the wear.

A nice dose of cinnamon, with a bit of mint, but it takes more to pick that one out of the bunch.

Nevertheless, the Dior takes this category.

Edge: Dior Intense

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Projection

Dior Intense lives up to its name and delivers an excellent sillage. 1 Million can be a complete bomb of cologne when applied.

So, while Dior Intense is strong, 1 Million is still that much stronger.

Update: Newer bottles of 1 Million have that strong initial burst and project quite far. However, it doesn’t maintain that same level throughout. It might actually be somewhat equal between them now.

The old formulas of 1 Million were absolutely beast mode and could outdo DHI easily. Now, not so much.

Edge: 1 Million

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Longevity

You won’t have a problem with either of these fragrances not lasting long enough. I get double digit hours of wear from each of them. Which one goes longer? Not sure, if one lasts 12 and the other 13 hours, but it’s not really important at that point. It’s pretty even here.

Update: Nowadays, I give the edge to DHI. The latest bottle of 1 Million that I purchased, lasts in the 8 hour neighborhood now. So, it’s for sure lost a couple of steps.

Edge: Dior Intense

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Versatility

Dior Intense and 1 Million are both great in the colder months of the year. Neither one is a summer scent, but I think Intense holds up better in slightly warmer weather. Though, not in the high summer.

Dior Intense is great in that it can be worn at the office, on a date, or at a night club. It’s classy and sexy, which gives it a flexibility that many colognes don’t possess.

1 Million smells much more youthful and is best served as a nightlife wear. This limits its usefulness for a lot of guys.

Dior is just the classier and more well-rounded fragrance. 1 Million is the fun attention grabber, which may not appeal to you on an individual level.

Edge: Dior Intense

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Overall Scent

To me, Dior Homme Intense is just the better scent all around. I think that the scent itself is great and it has much more universal appeal.

When I wear, Dior Intense, I always get lots of complements. 1 Million is great, I still wear it at times, but it’s not in the same league.

The grape bubblegum opening scares some people off of wearing it, but I think it gets better as it dries down. I still personally like breaking out 1 Million, now and again. It’s still got a charm about it and isn’t nearly as ubiquitous as it used to be.

That being said, I’d rather wear 1 Million Prive, over the original. However, that’s another story, and for the matchup between the two stars of this post, I’m going with Dior Homme Intense. (Update: that’s discontinued now, anyway).

It’s an amazing fragrance, that has achieved classic status in such a short time. The dry down while not as good as how Dior Intense opens, is still a powdery and appealing chocolate-like scent that really grabs attention.

Winner: Dior Homme Intense