Paco Rabanne Invictus is the fresh-and-filthy aquatic in the trophy-shaped bottle, one of the best-selling men's scents of the last decade. A 100ml runs around £95 at full price in the UK (Boots, checked Sep 2026), often less. Our Invicto chases the same grapefruit-over-warm-woods contrast at 35% extrait, £40 a bottle, or £6.99 for a 5ml.
Here is the scent, the real price, and how the £40 version stacks up.
Invicto, our take on Invictus by Paco Rabanne. 35% Extrait, 7+ hours guaranteed, 60-day money-back. Try the 5ml for £6.99, or the 50ml at £40 (buy any 2, get 1 free).
Fresh and filthy at the same time
Invictus launched in 2013, the work of Véronique Nyberg of IFF, who brought in Anne Flipo, Olivier Polge and Dominique Ropion to help land the formula. That is a remarkable amount of talent for what looks, on the surface, like a straightforward crowd-pleaser. Nyberg described it as a fragrance poised between a slashing freshness and an animalic sensuality, and that tension is the whole trick.
It opens clean and bracing, grapefruit and marine notes that smell of sea spray and cold air, then reveals a warm, slightly dirty base of ambergris, guaiac wood, oakmoss and patchouli. Fresh on the surface, sensual underneath. The bottle, designed by Cédric Ragot, was the visual hook; the contrast in the juice was what made people buy it twice.
What it actually smells like
Bright, salty and clean for the first hour, grapefruit over a sheer marine accord, with bay leaf and jasmine adding a little spice and lift. Then it settles into a soft, warm, ambery woodiness that sits close to the skin and reads faintly sweaty in the most flattering possible way, like clean skin after exercise. It is fresh enough for the gym and warm enough for a date, precisely the range it was engineered for.
What Invictus costs in the UK
Invictus is a designer release, not a niche one, so the price moves around. A 100ml is about £95 at Boots at full price and often sells for £60 to £70 elsewhere; the large 200ml bottle runs to around £145 (checked Sep 2026). Whatever you pay, you are buying a fresh-woody signature so widely worn, especially among younger men and gym-goers, that it is recognised in an instant.
That is the reason an alternative market exists. Plenty of men love the fresh-and-sensual contrast without paying to smell like the rest of the changing room.
Invictus vs Invicto
| Invictus (Paco Rabanne) | Invicto (Aromara) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Around £95 for 100ml | £40 for 50ml, £6.99 for 5ml |
| Concentration | Eau de toilette | 35% extrait |
| Longevity | Fresh scents tend to fade fast | 7+ hours, guaranteed |
| Refund | Unopened only (retailer policy) | 60-day money-back, even opened |
| Where to buy | High street and department stores | aromara.co.uk |
Invicto: the 35% interpretation
This is where we come in, and we will be straight about what we are. Our Invicto is Aromara's interpretation of that fresh-woody character, not a counterfeit and not a Paco Rabanne product. It carries no branding and makes no claim to be the original. It chases the part that matters: the grapefruit-and-marine opening, the bay-leaf-and-jasmine heart, and the warm ambergris, guaiac wood, oakmoss and patchouli base.
There is a particular reason concentration matters here. Fresh, marine scents are the ones most likely to vanish within a couple of hours. Ours is built at 35% extrait, roughly double a standard eau de parfum, so that clean opening holds for seven hours or more. And it costs £6.99 for a 5ml to test it properly, against about £95 for the original. We guarantee the wear time in writing, with 60 days to send it back for a full refund if it does not last.
The number no rival can print
Invicto is new. It has 5.0 from its first review and only a handful sold, so we will not dress it up. What we can show you is the fresh designer men's lane it sits in, ranked by what our customers actually buy over 90 days: our Aventus take (Eventus) 99 bottles, our Bleu de Chanel take (Bleu Royale) 53, our Acqua di Gio take (Aqua De Gio) 16, all at £40 and 35% extrait.
The lesson from our own till: in fresh men's fragrance the fruity Aventus style outsells the pure aquatic more than six to one. No shop reselling the originals can publish that, because they do not make all three and cannot see the split. If you want a fresh scent that actually lasts, that is the order worth knowing.
Our guide to extrait de parfum explains why a fresh scent can finally last, and the strongest perfume dupes in the UK shows where our range sits. If you want the original aquatic that started it all, the story behind Acqua di Gio is worth a read, and our Aqua De Gio is the one to try.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Paco Rabanne Invictus in the UK?
Around £95 for a 100ml at full price (Boots, checked Sep 2026), and often £60 to £70 discounted. The 200ml runs to about £145. Our Invicto is £40 for 50ml, or £6.99 for a 5ml.
Who created Paco Rabanne Invictus?
It was led by Véronique Nyberg of IFF, with Anne Flipo, Olivier Polge and Dominique Ropion, and launched in 2013. The trophy-shaped bottle was designed by Cédric Ragot.
What does Invictus smell like?
A fresh woody-aquatic: grapefruit and marine notes up top, bay leaf and jasmine in the heart, and a warm base of ambergris, guaiac wood, oakmoss and patchouli. Clean on the surface, sensual underneath.
Is Aromara's Invicto the same as Paco Rabanne?
No. It is an independent composition inspired by the same character, built at 35% extrait for longevity and sold at a fraction of the price. It is not affiliated with Paco Rabanne.
Aromara is an independent UK fragrance house. Our fragrances are original compositions inspired by the character of well-known designer scents. We are not affiliated with Paco Rabanne, and all trademarks belong to their respective owners. Every Aromara fragrance is made in the UK at 35% extrait concentration, with a 7+ hour longevity guarantee and a 60-day money-back promise.
