Black XS
Rabanne (2005)

Black XS by Paco Rabanne (2005) comes before the feminine market version of Black XS for Her (2007) by a few years, and all signs indicate it wasn't initially meant to have a feminine counterpart since it doesn't have a "pour Homme" to designate it like the original XS pour Homme by Paco Rabanne (1993) did. Beyond that mostly-useless tidbit of information, the other apparent difference between this and the OG that started this range, is the jumping on the "black" flanker bandwagon that ran through men's perfumery in the designer and (dying) drugstore segment throughout the 2000's. Everything from Stetson by Coty (1981) and English Leather by MEM (1949) - by then a Dana product - had a "black" flanker, as did a lot of evergreen men's lines such as Polo by Ralph Lauren (1977). As with the others, the "black" iteration of XS pour Homme was meant to be a youthful, edgy alternative to court younger guys who shopped at Hot Topic, listened to music on their iPods, and watched non-musical MTV shows like Jackass, all while sporting similarly-gothic Affliction apparel. Funny how only a few years later, an economic recession that removed an entire generation's hopes and dreams of a stable life proved that angst as foreshadowing. Real fragrance for the impending fall this was. Rosendo Mateu and Olivier Cresp had their work cut out.

So after you've cranked up your Donnie Darko DVDs and settled down with your JNCO Jeans, what you're left with here isn't really gothic at all, at least not in smell per se. This is no gloomy Van Cleef & Arpel pour Homme (1978) or brooding Salvadore Dali pour Homme (1987), and instead proves to be something of a precursor to the coming of Creed Aventus (2010), in much the same way Ralph Lauren Purple Label (2003) was also touted to be. By that I don't mean Creed gleaned Paco Rabanne's laboratory notes any more than they did Ralph Lauren's (it was actually Pierre Bourdon and his student Jean-Christophe Hérault that really contributed to the "Aventus DNA" the most), but you can tell that Black XS foreshadowed the style, in the same way the teenage angst of its wearers foreshadowed their own income and housing insecurities in coming decades. The opening has a similarly fruity profile, which for some (including myself) comes across like strawberry, a novel opening for a men's fragrance to be sure. The real cause is of course an assemblage of chemicals that the note pyramid calls praline and lemon. The rest is dry spice and sheer musks like ambroxan, with patchouli, timbersilk, and a sliver of oakmoss in older bottles since removed. You could wear this among today's "blue fragrances" and not feel out of place. Performance is just okay, and longevity is fine.

Older bottles were a bit punchier up front, and had a bit more woodiness in the finish, and lasted a bit longer than it does now; but Black XS was never a strong fragrance, always made to be sprayed with abandon by young guys looking to cruise the mall or car meet after school, etc. Of course, this stuff exploded in popularity in a way the original XS pour Homme never did, hence all the limited Black XS flankers trying to capitalize on the impulse spending of those same guys as they came into their 20's and beyond. All told, this sits somewhere in between Polo Black by Ralph Lauren (2005) and the aforementioned Purple Label, except a tad sweeter and spicier than either, drying down a bit more gourmand-ish than them; although I would strain to call Black XS a proper gourmand beyond the fruit top. To me, this still feels modern even in 2023 when I'm finally reviewing it, and I must have smelled it in the air hundreds of times as a twenty-something in 2005, without ever knowing what it was I had been smelling. I assumed it was some Ed Hardy or maybe a store-brand Hot Topic scent, as some of those also had fruity semi-gourmand woody-sheer ambroxan and came with gothic roses on the bottles just like this does. It's only the packaging that really hasn't aged well, as even in the updated bottle, the gothic font just screams "I religiously listen to Attack Attack, but I'm over it". Thumbs up

A beautiful fruity gourmand fragrance for men. Very different from the other masculine fragrances on the market. Fresh and sexy. I would use it, and I like it better than its feminine counterpart.

Sweet pineapple is what I mostly get , smells a bit like club nuit intense but without the woodsy birch note..great performance and overall a very pleasing fruity gourmand. The packaging and design are of a futuristic punk nature and I fully buy into that, the scent feels very full bodied and way out there in terms of creativity. It would be very easy to write this off as a sweet mess but for me this is very calculated and deliberate, great stuff.

This was a shocker for me. IMO it has the feeling of synthetic candy. I picture this to be the scent that would go along with all those mdma parties: synthetic, bright overstimulation. It doesn't smell bad, that's why I give it a neutral rating. So if your thing is to take a pill and go raving this is the scent for you.

After I've tried and tested other scents... I have to say Black XS is not that bad after all...
It's not the best of Paco Rabanne.. but it is an acceptable scent

Starts out sweet and fruity, then dries down to sweet and powdery.

The opening lasts for an hour or two and then you get the powdery drydown for 5-6 hours. Seems best suited for casual wear and because of the sweetness, might be best in colder weather.