Paco Rabanne
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Pink pepper delivers a fizzing, almost sherbet-like sharpness that collides head-on with tart lemon, creating fifteen minutes of deceptive freshness. It's a feint, really—the citrus burns off quickly, leaving the pepper to crackle against an emerging lavender note that already hints at the sweetness to come.
Lavender and frankincense form an unlikely alliance, the herbal aromatics buffeted by resinous smoke that adds gravitas to what's essentially a very sweet composition. The incense never quite achieves true dryness; instead, it's constantly pulled back into the orbit of sugar, like trying to maintain dignity whilst standing in a cloud of vanilla-scented steam.
Tonka and vanilla dominate completely, rendering the skin a smooth, amber-tinged sweetness that borders on gourmand territory without quite tipping over. The synthetic quality becomes most apparent here—it's that impossibly clean, rounded sweetness that natural ingredients can't quite achieve, tenacious and unvarying until it finally fades.
Invictus Victory is Anne Flipo's unabashed celebration of synthetic sweetness, a fragrance that wears its artificiality like a badge of honour. The opening crackle of pink pepper against sharp lemon feels almost electric, a brief moment of brightness before the composition pivots dramatically into its true nature: a lavender-frankincense hybrid that eschews traditional fougère heritage for something altogether more confected. The lavender here isn't your grandmother's drawer sachet—it's amplified, smoothed out, and shot through with resinous incense smoke that gives it an almost liturgical solemnity before the inevitable sugar crash arrives.
The base is where Invictus Victory truly commits to its sweet-spicy thesis. Tonka and vanilla form a dense, almost chewy foundation that the synthetic accord (clocking in at 76%) renders impossibly smooth, like caramelised condensed milk with a hit of warming amber. There's a peculiar tension between the frankincense's austere smokiness and the dessert-thick sweetness underneath—imagine burning incense in a pâtisserie and you're halfway there.
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Viktor & Rolf
3.8/5 (136)