Marmot57

I recently got my hands on a small sampling tester. I can see why some would view it as related to Boss Bottled (more Elixir than Absolu in my opinion, due to the woody opening) but the fragrance that it most closely resembles is the new Rabanne Phantom Elixir. Allow me to explain.

Both fragrances share a marine/aquatic/fresh theme, incorporate oud or woody notes, and exhibit a somewhat darker character. Cool Elixir is significantly darker than Phantom Elixir, particularly at the outset. I also detect vanilla in both scents, more prominently in Phantom Elixir, but if you examine the ingredients for Cool Elixir, you will find Vanillin there as well.

Cool Elixir may be the finest release from Davidoff since Cool Water Parfum, which was a rather inexpensive and unremarkable Sauvage-like offering. But that does not say much. Nevertheless, Cool Elixir, as is typical with Davidoff, is boring, unexciting, and utilizes low-quality ingredients. Most importantly, it has a cheap blend that, in my opinion, smells synthetic and inexpensive.

Cool Elixir features a much darker and woodier opening compared to Phantom Elixir, while the freshness of both fragrances is relatively similar. However, in the far dry down, Cool Elixir presents a very basic wood-amber profile.

I cannot accurately comment on the performance, as I have not tested it on skin, only on a tester strip. It appears to last approximately 5 to 7 hours, at least based on my initial impression.

I would not buy it even if it was priced at 30 dollars. Phantom Elixir is also unremarkable and lacks uniqueness, yet it remains the superior option out of these two day and night.

I had to return my bottle of Polo Blue Parfum and I will try to outline why I think you should definitely not purchase this fragrance.

Firstly, I am a fan of Polo Deep Blue , I have two bottles of it. The performance is average on skin but it does last a good amount of time on clothes. So there's that.

Unfortunately, Polo Blue Parfum is not only a very basic, uninspiring fragrance but it also have an abysmal performance for something that presents itself as above eau de cologne concentration.

I purchased the bottle from a reputable source, never had an issue with them, it was original and no problems with packaging or transportation.

It smells exactly like an expensive and refined Gillette shaving foam but also like a drugstore fragrance. It is well blended, for whatever can be smelled out of it and it's not much, but there is absolutely no way so many notes were used into this fragrance. They could have mentioned only 3 notes and it would have been sufficient: mandarin orange, soap, woods. The rest of it is all marketing.

But the real problem is that this fragrance does not do anything at all. I am dead serious. You will see people on the internet saying that they like it but they have to spray twice in the same spot or others that sprayed it and couldn't sense anything, I was one of them.

From the moment of application you can barely smell it for like 20-30 minutes and then it becomes very close to the skin. You will detected it like 2 hours on the skin, maybe. I sprayed in spring 2 sprays on my t-shirt, not too cold, not too hot, just a tad of wind outside but not much. After 4-5 hours after coming back home from mall shopping, I smelled my t-shirt and I could sense the detergent that was used to wash it!

But all things considered, definitely Polo Blue Parfum is a dishonest parfum concentration in both longevity and intensity. It's bad fragrance in general that I cannot recommend and I really can't understand how the fragrance community votes are so high on it.

Like someone mentioned below, you are better off with something cheap like Chrome Extrême

If you've ever wondered which would be the most different and unique 1 Million scent, then you should give the Parfum a try.

This is not for everyone but it can be liked by almost everybody that encounters it. It's unisex, floral, very sweet at the beginning and slightly synthetic. It resembles the idea of summer, beach, suntan lotion and leather bag perfectly - also, as Quentin Bisch described his creation.

The opening is a blast of tuberose (which is not the same with the common rose) and sweetness. It can also come by as sparkling or effervescent, this being a sort of outcome between the combination of the notes and tuberose.
Since this is not a complete but a somewhat linear fragrance - you are also going to sense the other notes in the opening: the salt, solar notes and suntan lotion scent which would be the monoi oil and labdanum.

The mid will develop and provide the leather accord and animalic touch. At this stage, it does not lose the notes from the opening but they become more balanced, less intrusive or explosive.

The dry-down is where the leather starts to be sensed the most, accompanied by the suntan lotion. A slight and gentle white floral accord will still be present in the background but it will be very subtle.

Overall, the fragrance does not evolve too much, it's rather linear but what makes it amazing is that, at least until the very far dry down where you get mostly leather, suntan lotion and white floral, you will enjoy the unpredictability of all these notes.

Now you are smelling the white floral, then the solar note, then it's the salt then it's the sunscreen note, then some sweetness and so on but never in the same order.
Yes it is a sweet fragrance, especially in the opening and early stage of the mid but definitely not overbearing or too much. It's very well-balanced.

Note that this is a parfum concentration, it's strong during the first 2-3 hours - beast mode projection and silage. After that, it will still linger in the air for a long time and create a strong scent bubble around you. I got 10 hours+ on my skin, on clothes it lasts even more. People will recognize that you are wearing and projecting it.

It can be worn during the day and night, during most of the seasons: spring, fall and winter. I tried in the summer but it gets too cloying, at least during the day and warm. Might be an option for the summer nights, the ones which are not humid. If you calibrate the sprays, it can also be worn at the office.

This is unique, I haven't smelled anything like this before and I haven't seen other people comparing other releases to this one neither. I already got a back up bottle as I've heard it's been discontinued, although my back up bottle was produced recently, in August 2023.

Disclaimer: is it a safe blind buy? No. I've heard people complaining about it's sweetness, white floral and some might actually perceive it as a banana (bread) scent. Test it before (I like bananas anyway).

This is a compliment monster, a long-lasting, unique and mesmerizing scent. It's a solid release.

Joop! Homme Le Parfum (2022) must not be confused for the Joop! Homme Eau de Toilette EDT (1989) or Joop! Homme Eau de Parfum EDP (2021). Only after we understand this difference can we move on to assessing and appreciating this fragrance for what it actually is.

This fragrance is nothing like its predecessors. Although it's a flanker, it has nothing in common with the previous versions. This could have been a release on its own.

Regarding the scent, it is very sweet but not overly sweet (like the original used to be), it's floral, it's gourmand and powdery. It's not a one dimensional fragrance, this evolves.
The iris can be fully detected right from the top and it will go into the mid while slowly fading away, so it won't be there for the whole life of the fragrance. Also, the iris is very similar to what you can find in Dior Homme Intense (2011) and the likes of it.
It's also very sweet from the very moment you spray it, vanilla can be detected from the very beginning.
As the mid starts to reach its climax, the sweetness and vanilla are going to be somehow accompanied by the praline which is very subtle, yet detectable.
The far dry down is the most vanillic and powdery stage of the fragrance.

I also had the EDP (2021) but that clearly kept the DNA of the original EDT - it was mature scent but it also felt like it would not fit a young crowd under 35-40 years old. Gladly, the Parfum is a good all rounder, any generation can pull this one off. The reason for this also has to do with the fact that this fragrance requires to be dressed up or makes use of a classy or sophisticated outfit. Joop! Homme Le Parfum is a sophisticated scent that smells like royalty or even old money I might say but it's very modern and age-versatile. It has nothing in common with Emporio Armani - Stronger With You line, there is no cinnamon, chestnut, amber or nutmeg in this fragrance.

Regarding the performance, this Le Parfum lasts more than 8 hours on my skin, the projection is strong during the first 2 hours, 2 feet+ and after that it will come closer to skin but you will have a quite big scent bubble around you. It will stain the clothes but if you are spraying on black clothes, it will last for 24 hours+ maybe even days.

I love this fragrance but I don't get many opportunities to wear it. It's too playful for formal meetings and office, and too sophisticated for casual outfits. It's perfect for partying but you need to dress up for it. This can only be used during fall, especially winter and cold spring, otherwise it will be cloying. I wouldn't say it's unique, but it definitely stands out from the rest of the designer releases from the last five years or so.

It's very smooth, well blended with surprisingly good quality, highly enjoyable. If it was in a different high-end designer bottle, this would have been hyped. It's a solid release.

1 Million Royal represents the most mature version, the best blended of the line as well as the best all-rounder. This can be worn any time, any date - except for summer in very warm or high heat and the formal meetings. It can be worn during the day, during the night and even at the office, but you will have to be careful with the sprays.

The scent itself can take some people to a gourmand, chocolate direction. I know I was one of them but I perceived it as being close to Axe Dark Temptation (which many of use abused in high school, nevertheless great deodorant scent).
After wearing it many, many times by now, I can definitely say that I don't perceive it anymore as much to the aforementioned deodorant but to something more peculiar and that is: Lonicera caprifolium. Of course, you can search this plant online and for those of you who haven't gotten the chance to smell it, the flower of this plant is sweet and woody, also known as honeysuckle or Italian woodbine. Even so, the scent of 1 Million Royal is not overly sweet, it's actually perfectly balanced.

The performance is excellent. I get 12+ hours on skin (actually I can feel it the next day easily) and if I spray on clothes. it will stay there for days. It has very good projection for the first 2 hours and after that it will create a nice scent bubble around you and will have a magnificent silage, this lingers a long time in the air after you walk by.

The reason I am giving - specifically - the scent an 8.5 out of 10 is because it does not evolve or change that much after the opening but even more because of it's ozonic quality. And this is the catch. Although it does not have ambroxin, it is a powerful performer and as a consequence, as it happens with many fragrances nowadays, you will go nose blind on it. I think it's because of the airy and ozonic quality combined with the punch of the fragrances that makes it feel as it's gone but it actually goes on for a long time and it's also one of the reason why some people feel like going for 8 sprays or more. People around you will smell you from distance with only 4-5 sprays. If you go for 8 sprays with this, you will be perceived like you would be going at a party.

This is my favorite 1 Million from the ones I've tried, seconded by the Parfum. It's not a unique scent, nothing groundbreaking, but a solid release and a true claimer of the Royal name.

*Edit - I changed my mind and I give it a 9 in scent as it has grown on me even more.