Black XS (2018)

It's funny how some don't like this cologne. Because, as a people pleaser - it succeeds. I have many different types of colognes (niche, designer, clones, etc) and when I have people smell several - Paco Rabanne Black XS always gets favorable reactions. I've never seen anyone blindly "not like it". My nose isn't as cultured as some. It's difficult for me to identify one scent over another. But as a combo, I just love it. It's soft, but dark and sweet. Not too much citrus, but enough. Yeah, I smell a little strawberry, but it isn't strong. (it's not strong like Green Apple is strong in Layton). The original version of this cologne was a near G.O.A.T., and this latest version (2018) is still great. There are some colognes I like more, but not many. I sprayed it on this morning, and my wife commented, "Oh, I love that one, you don't wear it enough."

Having not gotten the chance to smell the original I can rate this scent for what it is, not what it used to be. Opens up with a blast of sweet orange, mandarin and lime. The description of orange soda+sour gummy worms is pretty spot on. After a few hours the top notes take a step back and the praline comes through which is where I think this fragrance really shines. Overall a pretty fun scent that is very different to what Paco usually brings to the table, and one that I reach for quite a bit more than I expected. Performance is not close to being as bad as people make it out to be, it does the job just fine, but I get that it's not as loud as other Paco's. If I had to have only one scent would I go for Black XS? Probably not, but it's a fun addition to my collection, and at a decent price.

Had the original back in high school and girls used to absolutely love it. Recently saw it again half price and bought some. After not smelling it for a good 10 years Its probably 85-90% of how I remember it, crazy how the mind and memory work. People with more knowledge than me have said its not the same as the original and I will probably agree, but its close enough. I cant put my nose on what it is I love so much about this. The sage/cardamon maybe? It lasts fairly well. 4 sprays on body and half a spray on my shirt. 6 hours later and was still getting small whiffs of it. (Much better than pure xs in the blue bottle, smell hardly lasts and is very weak to me) Skin scent is also great. Good for romantic nights.

You can tell the slight difference in the reformulation, but for me it's for the better, I always liked Black XS but the old version had just too much of something.. this one is just more polite on the nose. I get like a nice fresh blast of almost green apple on me..& it just reminds me of a slightly more masculine version of the women's D&G light blue, absolutely in love everyone says suitable more for fall/winter but idk all the citrus & fruit smell I get I could totally see this being okay for year round, not super sweet on me & like the softness, debating if I want a bottle now..hmm..

Well since it's my favourite fragrance ever I had to have it in my life again. After reading about the bad performance I was waiting for PR to bless us with an EDP or something like that but I guess it ain't happening. Anyway I'm glad to say that i does not perform worse than the previous formulation that I used to own around 2015-16. The smell to me is the same., so I'm quite satisfied, still I'd love to have a formulation having the power of Pure XS Night, yeah I'm that kinda guy :)