Reviews of Paco Rabanne Pour Homme by Paco Rabanne

Found this for £19 / 100ml in a bargain bin at a Norwegian Airport, saw the rating and blind bought. (modern formulation)

This Fragrance is nothing special, but ironically that is why it is well reviewed. Its extremely versatile and quite mature, it is both 'board meeting at the office' and 'sunday afternoon at the clubhouse'.

Those examples probably describe the target demographic for this fragrance pretty well, definitely older guys. As a guy in his 20s - I probably wouldn't wear this any other time than a chill day at the office or a coffee with a colleague/family member.

The scent is green but not particularly fresh - the moss and sage are prominent and well complemented by more muskier tones to create light opening quickly followed by a thick dry down. This isn't a fragrance where projection was a focus, you wont be turning heads with this one. Longevity is pretty standard, 4 - 6 hours.

At not one point does this fragrance feel synthetic which is something I really enjoyed, it feels like I've been bathed in forest water trickling through an abandoned and moss laden herb garden. It also gives big barbershop aromas.

But in my opinion - which is really just a warning for the younger guys - I wouldn't be looking to pick this one up unless you need an office staple and work around older guys. Hence the neutral.

Elegant, masculine, shaving foam, soapy, musky green and lavender (short) scent. It has a musky base and in the same genre, due to the shaving foam hints it has, it can be compared to Rogue's Mousse Ilumine and, in part, to Polo Green (the latter much more robust and leathery). In general it maintains an aromatic, clean and fresh sensation, almost as if it has just been bleached. It has a good persistence, let's say it covers 6 hours rather easily and it's not a trail or crazy projection perfume, it always remains rather discreet but very present. The vintage version, needless to say, is a completely different thing from the modern one. For lovers of classic and timeless men's, in my opinion, it is an absolute must.

There’s days when I think I could wear Paco Rabanne Pour Homme every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. There’s only a handful of fragrances I would say that about and this is one of them.
Much of that has to do with balance. It’s perfectly balanced and manages to be everything, all at once.

It’s dark and deep, while at the same time bright & revealing.
Strong, but it doesn’t shout.
It smells clean with soapy notes, yet contrasts that with “dirtier” notes like Oakmoss, tobacco and a slightly animalic honey.
It’s polite and gentlemanly, but it’s not above a bar fight.
Simple, but also quite complex.

When you think you know it, it reveals something new that you never noticed before.
I wouldn’t bother reading note lists on this one, it won’t get you far. Maybe far off course. Spend time with it and trust your nose.

Like many of the great fragrances, it’s a bit of a shapeshifter and can smell quite different from day to day or person to person.
One day it’s clean & soapy, fresh and invigorating. On another day, it’s all about the herbs. A warm spring day, it might register as a dark, heady oakmoss fragrance, or perhaps on a day when the wind blows cold you’ll think it surely has woods and incense.
Maybe one day you’ll swear there’s rose in there.
And there probably is.

It’s quite a mature scent as well. Confident, wise, sure footed and a bit stern.
Plenty versatile. Works just as brilliantly with a white t-shirt on a Sunday as it does with a 3 piece suit on a Monday.

Cons: It’s probably not that appealing to younger demographics, a better fit for older guys I’d say. A bit too strong in the higher heat of summer. Reformulated over the years. That’s about it.

It’s truly a great fragrance. Is it a masterpiece? Who’s to say. But I’m perfectly fine with calling it that.


*My review is based on older versions of Paco Rabanne Pour Homme.

Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is a well-mannered, masculine classic.

It opens with An aromatic arpeggio of rosemary, sage, and rosewood on top of intertwined geranium and lavender.

A base of honey, amber, moss, and musk emerges after about 45 minutes that is masculine without being animalic.

If Kouros is a bit too much for you, then get a bottle of PRPH.

If the odd sharp note in Caron’s #3 has become annoying, then get a bottle of PRPH.

If Eau Sauvage is a bit too citrussy and soft for you, then get a bottle of PRPH.

If you like to wear masculine fragrances without smelling unnaturally macho, then PRPH is for you.

MODERN VERSION (2010+)

This is the reformulated version of the 48 year old rugged spicy green classic. It's substantially different from the vintage, much soapier, and much less mossy... different enough to be considered a flanker in my opinion. With that in mind I can appreciate the reformulated Paco as an Irish Spring soap bomb powerhouse that I prefer to Sung Homme.

Warning: If you're looking to replace an empty bottle of vintage Paco, you'll probably be better off with Fragrances of Ireland Patrick.

Masculinity Level: Charles Bronson chopping wood with an axe in The Magnificent Seven.

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VINTAGE VERSION (1991-1995)

In honor of the 50th anniversary since its release, I'm reviewing the vintage version of Paco PH. I never post the same fragrance twice, but the vintage is different enough from the current formulation to warrant a separate review. And what better time than its golden jubilee birthday year?

The notes I immediately detect are rosemary, sage, and lavender. Unlike the modern version, the opening is not sharp, not harsh, not screechy as hell. Here the dry-down is an excellent mix of greenness and natural-smelling soap. This is what an aromatic fougere should be. With the contemporary version you don't get any oakmoss and you get smothered by an avalanche of soap.

Projection on this 1990s vintage is decent and longevity is good. By contrast, the current formulation performs like an absolute beast - they smell you before they see you. Make no mistake, it's the modern version that's a powerhouse, not this. Having said that, I don't own the contemporary version anymore. Performance does not trump quality.

Masculinity Level: Still Charles Bronson in The Magnificent Seven, but now he's acting as a human shield to protect the kids.

Try layering this with Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt...it makes sense. A classic, southern France beach vibe with a modern English beach vibe. Try it!

Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is a classic 1970s fougere, that manages to be very masculine while also being somewhat clean and refined for a barbershop scent. It opens with a strong oak-moss that puts Paco Rabanne in the hairy chest, open collar shirt category. The opening is warm and inviting and there is also distinct musk in there. As Paco Rabanne Pour Homme dries down some nice floral notes (particularly lavender) come through that gives this fragrance a more refined and classy feel, at this point the fragrance also takes on a soapy, clean scent. The fragrance carries the warmth of the amber throughout which I find gives it a comforting vibe. Those who appreciate this genre of fragrance will find Paco Rabanne Pour Homme pleasing, there is a reason why it has stuck around as a classic masculine fragrance for almost 50 years. This is a good fragrance for weekend wear during spring and autumn. It has respectable performance, good arm length projection and it lasts all day on my skin, particularly in cooler weather. Overall a very good fougere, for me it's better than Drakkar Noir but not quite as good as Aramis. It sits confidently between those two classics. I enjoy wearing Paco Rabanne Pour Homme.

I've not been able to try the vintage yet so mine is the current formulation - it's OK but you need to go steady on the spray count or it'll have your eyes watering. Still a familiar smell from what I remember from the 80's, although probably not as good as the vintage. Definitely not subtle but still good.

The epitome of hairy chests, gold chains and mustaches connected with manliness. He wearing a tuxedo and a bow tie and, radiates confidence and charm. This fragrance emits 1970's style and elegance. A good thing in my book. A powerful aromatic fougere, despite of the spices in it. Classically handsome and charming. It can really be the signature fragrance of a sophisticated successful man. Clean, creamy, aromatic, mossy, woody, classy and herbaceous.

The opening is a blast of aromatic green herbs (not too strong) but given a bit of time, the rosemary, lavender and geranium would take over and provide a very seamless and subtle transition into the very nice creamy chypre and woody fougere, to a fresh, green, gentlemen king of scent. The dries down in a kind of mossy & green smell; somesgow similar to Oscar de La Renta Pour Lui and Antonio Puig Quorum, slightly more refined. It is definitely for mature men, not for the boys who admire those sweet-fruity modern fragrances.

I used to wear this scent in the late 70's (original formulation). Always received tons of compliments. Fast forward 40+ years and I found a vintage bottle of the EdT on Ebay. Picked it up. Sprayed this morning and what a flashback of wonderful memories. This is a timeless fougere, and the soapy top note is quite accurate. I do not concur with the comparison to Brut (own a couple vintage bottles), which MUCH sweeter. The PRPH is dry...very dry. About an hour later, the woody notes appear, but that soapy sage/greenness still resonates. IMO, some of the 70's scents simply did not age well. Pierre Cardin, YSL Pour Homme, Aramis, Grey Flannel, are some that come to mind, but Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is timeless. Excellent juice.

This 1973 game-changer refined the fougère as we know it. With a likely template that stemmed from 64's Brut Fabergé, Paco Rabanne brought a newer fit to the genre with a soapy green to its laundry floral, along side a dirty, honeyed, mossy chest of musk, that was strictly tighter. Paco Rabanne was the adulated, the emulated, the simulated, and the hated standard for tobacco greens of the seventies, the indolic powerhouses of the eighties, and the status quo scent for men's grooming for decades. Surely, it was the lynchpin, before the 90's Cool Water age ushered a new kind of squeaky for a whole new conservative. Yet, it still trudges along like an aging kingpin in this century, remaining faithfully adored particularly within the barbershop realm and the wet-shaving flock. Described in a nutshell, this is a bottled mantra of ‘a cleanliness is next to godliness' for that steamy butt-wiggling out of the shower feel. Anyone familiar with the Irish Spring advert way back, that featured a rugged, young buck in suds bathing in grassy pastures, sums up the gist and drift. Basically, a disco clean of green with a balsamic soul, Paco Rabanne pour Homme still resonates and remains the figurehead of its fougère class, despite being out of step. All power to it for just that!

Paco Rabanne Pour Homme is a 1973 classic, arriving the same year as Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon Album' which has become so iconic and endures to this day. Just like that album, PRPH as a fragrance classic has transcended time and endured musical, technological, and cultural shifts to become iconic and relevant to entirely different generations. Paco PH is a personal favorite, a 'comfort scent' that I'm grateful for.

For me Paco is 'smoky green-soapy-musky' to break it down into phases. All three of those phases are absolutely divine. Starting with the bright, dry, mossy green smokiness becoming transformed with 'Irish Spring' soap, drying down into a seemingly perfect musk. I would be hard pressed to pick which phase is best. To a young nose used to sweet modern scents I would recommend patience and multiple wears to assimilate this dry, anti-sweet, smoky, soapy, green, aromatic fougere. Two thumbs up plus a standing ovation for Paco PH.

The cleanest dirty scent I own!

Bottle in reference is 2nd edition splash which puts it into the second half of the 80s.

Opens with a blast of barbershop and floral freshness that was unexpectedly loud. Bright is the best way to put it. Opening a new white bar of soap bright.

Once it's moved on, you get the beginning of the legendary dry down. With an almost cumin like amber musk that adds the maucho-ness much described elsewhere. The soapy brightness is still the star of the show though, and it melds into a masterpiece battle between musky earthy amber and clean sparkling soap brightness. This constant indecisive theme carries on for hours and sillage I would describe as moderate to strong (this does not turn into a skin scent)

An interesting scent indeed! Two thumbs up. Worth snagging a Vintage bottle without question, an easy but strong wearing and very much complimented masculine classic!

The green feels an appropriate color choice. I haven't smelled BRUT aftershave in years and year but I want to say this is a supremely nicer version with an orange peel oil spritz around the rim. That could be ...off though. People say soap and powder but I don't think that's right AT ALL. I find way less powder than an old spice type clean scent. This stuff goes beyond soap into Windex territory. That doesn't mean I don't like it. Air freshener purple flower but not floral. Ever notice rosemary smelling kinda like lemon? My Mom bought it for me and my Girlfriend loves it. So that's two female votes in favor of this flavor but I think it's a "Dudes Only" scent unless you're a head-to-toe lemon woman. It could layer on one of those overly lemmoned ladies. You know who you are!

I have the small logo r bottle. Seems to last just fine and does make my skin sticky where it lands.

Modern masculines from Paco Rabanne are not something I enjoy. One Million and it's flankers all choke me out, the Invictus line fills me with the burning fury of a thousand suns and my one bottle of Black XS from my twenties elicited a solid “Meh.”

The original Pour Homme is another story altogether. This is the first aromatic fougere I've purchased and it was love at first smell. My bottle is the modern formulation, but it's still incredible.

The opening is reminiscent of faberge brut... in the most complimentary way possible. The bracing hit of sage and rosemary (And I think bergamot, even though it's not listed) is gorgeous and the laurel adds a roundness that I really enjoy, it seems to pair up perfectly with the lavender and geranium. The development from the bracing opening through the soapy, powdery phase is gradual, rather subtle and just feels logical and beautifully done.

My favourite element, though, is undoubtedly the tobacco. It initially has a dry, papery quality that reminds me strongly of the note in Guerlain Vetiver and melds really smoothly with the honey, amber and musk in the base to give a sensation that is mostly rich, smooth and clean, with only a hint of sweetness and bitter dryness.

The only complaint one might raise is that this does smell old school. I think there's enough retro chic in the fougere genre to give this some legs and hipster cred, but even without that, I don't care. I can live with smelling old when it smells this damn good.

Old school. Mine's an '08 bottle.

Spicy Geranium. Mossy-honeyed-musk to it, remindful of King Kouros at times. Soapy. Versatile.

An undeniable stalwart in masculine fragrance history.

I completely refute the descriptive statement that the scent remains the same .
The current formula is nowhere near the original they are so detached from each other that they are different scents . The original is so classy and refined with beautiful accord of tobacco and honey built on a strong base of oakmoss and musk . So beautifully green .
The modern big logo bottle is weak and synthetic

Top marks! Probably the very first fragrance I ever encountered back in the 1980s. Dad always had a bottle. The best way I can describe PRPH is it smells like the finest soap and talcum powder set that money can buy...refined, clean, fresh and comforting. It really is unique and evocative.

This is how I like it. Very crisp, with lots of rosemary, sage and laurel, and the lavender is very smoothly blended in - unlike sweet modern lavenders. It is suave, it is fresh. The dry down is driven by moss and accentuated by a vague, hazy sweetness of honey and tonka, which makes it a little cosy; moderate separation of notes, and excellent balance. Sometimes rugged, sometimes refined, soothing, uplifting, robust, decidedly old school and definitely out of fashion (isn't that a good thing?). It isn't as sophisticated as Rive Gauche pour Homme, and is a tad less dressed up than Azzaro, but it is more effortless. I find there are some similarities in 'personality' with Bogart ("classic/signature"), even though scent profiles are somewhat different. A must try if you're into wet shaving or barbershop scents; discreet sillage and moderate duration.

4/5

Note: My bottle is a 'semi-vintage' splash. No idea as to how the current stuff is.

Rosemary, sage and touches of bergamot - can an opening be more classic? Rich, fresh-ish, herbal - delicious.

The same relational line continues in the drydown: lots of lavender, geranium with whiffs of basil thrown in. Sheer delight.

In the base, the oakmoss was the jewel of the original formulation: crisp, not very sharp and of intense richness. This all is counterbalanced by a restrained sweetness that is mainly owed to a honeyed tonka. In the most recent version the base is thinner, the oakmoss is just a shadow of its former self, and the whole appears anaemic compared to the older issues.

I get moderate sillage l, excellent projection and seven hours of longevity on my skin.

In its original version this autumnal beauty represents the classic fougère, in all its glorious beauty. The quality of the ingredients was sublime, and the blending exquisite. A bit brighter than dunhill blend 30. 4.25/5.

The most recent reformulation is a 3.5/5 - still respectable overall.

This is one my all-time favorite fragrances, at least in the vintage formulations. It was my father's signature scent in the 70s - 80s and every time I wear it, it reminds me of him. Wearing this really makes me mourn the loss of oak moss in perfumes, as it is my favorite base note. I recently managed to score 100ml of the first edition of Paco Rabanne Pour Homme and the Oak Moss base blows me away, so natural and soft. The modern formulation is a chemical mess, in my opinion, but the original, second and even third formulations are sublime. 5 solid stars.

Only tried the reformulation, but I was expecting a powerhouse scent. Wasn't what I expected. Barbershop and floral yes, dated yes, but not old man/too strong. I don't know if I'd wear this to work or out, but might consider a bottle for weekends at home.

My dad used to own it back in the 1980s/90s. It's a very masculine, elegant, dry, classic, old school fragrance, suitable for young and older men. Great for men in their 40s and 50s.

(vintage edt)
Very green and nostalgic, in the same family as kouros but far more friendly and light. Like in a lot of these scents a hint of urine but it doesn't go too far and ends up just overall feeling very soapy after a balancing act that could of gone either way. Lasts a few hours and gets more and more soapy and dare I say sexy.. a good one for the gym bag.