Black XS for Her

This is by far the prettiest gourmand fragrance that I had the pleasure of smelling! It's a strange way of describing it, but it is really pretty! Like the most beautiful desert ever, it's a black forest cake! It starts with peppery notes along with a sour kind of berry, and patchouli; and gradually develops into a much nicer, warmer, and happier scent. The middle notes that I get to on my skin after an hour are dark chocolate, vanilla, and cherry, wafts of roses, with a hint of the nicest patchouli I have ever smelled! It's like even patchouli cannot be harsh to this beautiful creature! Have you ever had some of those Lindt Excellence Cherry Intense? It's a Dark chocolate bar with cherry filling inside, and the middle and base notes of black xs for her smell exactly like the taste of those chocolates. It's not overly bitter, and it's not overly sweet, it's not too jammy, and it's not too powdery; it's just the perfect amount of deliciousness. When it gets to the base notes I encounter with a sourness again but this time it's more of a tamarind kind of sourness along with cocoa, vanilla, and a few berries. I don't now what Massoia wood smells like so I cannot comment on that, but the middle and the base notes sure do have a vaguely woody quality to them. To me, this is a fairly feminine frag rance for a young but relatively sophisticated girl. I think it's a perfect fall scent but wearable in all seasons as long as it's not too cold or too hot. It's very cozy and comfortable. The only complaint I have is the sillage which is moderate to soft on my skin. I want to be able to smell this all the time, and It would be awesome if it were stronger. The longevity on fabric can be up to 12 hours, but on my skin, it lasts about 4-5 hours.

This is the original 2007 version before it got reformulated. I've had a 50ml bottle of this and it's still going strong. I dread the day when I finish it and have to try the reformulation. This was one of the first fragrances that made me fall in love with perfumes. I still wear this on days when I'm depressed as it's an instant mood lifter yet slightly sad too for me. It's so nostalgic of the 2000's pre-covid days when I was still allowed to dress up gothic and go to concerts like Evanescence without crazy mandates. On me this lasts forever and 3 sprays is enough. Smells of everything I love. Roses, cocoa, and vanilla but with a dark twist. It's very sweet but the earthy notes give it a slight masculine edge and prevent it from going into these days "smells like every other generic fruitchouli" territory. Back when everyone still smoked cigarettes instead of vaping, the scent would mix well with the tobacco too. Sillage is amazing for hours, then dries down to a pleasant vanilla skin scent. I remember going out on dates and hugging my ex who would always say the scent remained on his shirt or pillow and remind him of me the next day <3 I remember my mum gifting me a bottle of this on one of my 20-something birthdays. Back when she still knew what I liked and times were good. I immediately fell in love with the beautiful bottle with a rose on it and still keep it in the original box. I'm 34 now and refuse to grow up. I love that the 90s-2000s are back in style and I still have this. Whenever I'm sad I spritz a bit of this, listen to my favourite 2000s Spotify playlists, and hope for better days ahead. Some people will say this is only for teens-20s but I think fragrance is timeless.

I fell in love with this fragrance back in 2010. I bought it at the airport, before leaving London, and I cherished ever since. I was my signature scent! It's a rock n roll scent, seductive, warm, sweet but spicy, intoxicating, with red fruits, rose, vanilla, some fresh pepper and a solid base of patchouli, amber, tonka bean, aromatic woods. It was the smoky eyes+little black dress+leather jacket of perfumes, and I would always wear it during concerts. It got really strong as the years passed (I tried to save it for special occasions!) I wanted to buy a fresh bottle... but it was nowhere to be found... until a few years ago! Despite the joy of being able to wear it again, I gotta admit that the new formula isn't exactly as it used to be. Now it's too woody and leathery on the dry down, and it's stronger, while the old formula would stay warm and sweet, and would leave an impeccable lingering fragrance on jackets (for days!). My preference now shifted towards either cozy/spicy vanilla perfumes or clean airy fragrances (lol), but for a night out I still reach out to Black XS sometimes; I never go overboard and I layer it with Bare Vanilla body spray (not the fragrance) by Victoria's Secret for a cozier vibe, or with a tiny bit of Strawberry Poundcake by Bath and Body Works if I want some more sweetness/red fruits. If they fixed the formula, I would *run* to buy it again! Please Paco Rabanne, please don't forget about it! ❤️

Sparkling CRANBERRY & CHOCOLATE. This beauty has been reformulated to death. Originally signed by perfumers Emilie Bevierre-Coppermann and Mark Buxton, performance now requires several months of dark storage after first sprays (develops to average or slightly above average). Opens with a burst of sparkly cranberry patchouli that sweetens onto a cacao & rose heart resting on a massoia wood & patchouli base. This isn't a dupe of anything that I've smelt, but it has an early 2000s patchouli vibe, and passing reminders for me of Euphoria Calvin Klein and the Angel range by Mugler. Overall: with average or slightly above average performance after storage, this beauty will have a nostalgic vibe for many noses. Enjoy! Contrast to Maa Arwaak Rasasi: This is a dupe, but they aren't totally identical but when compared side by side, MA has a slight pencil shaving note on the skin initially. As they dry down they become more and more identical. Update 02/01/25: Sprayed this on this morning. It's gotten a little stronger, but I still sprayed 3 times to the back of my hand, although most things I usually spray once. I think what makes it seem light, or one of the things, is that the cranberry isn't a piercing red fruit note, and this is actually a good thing for me. Sillage is soft but present, and I get a nice chocolate-cake-patchouli in the drydown. If you're looking for a beast, this won't be it, but it is lovely.

Its amazing how one note can make such a difference in the drydown, here its sandalwood vs patchouli. I much prefer the smoth milky effect of the sandalwood in the edp but the patch in this really does give it its holding power and projection. It oddly does remind me a little of Rebl fleur! not what i was expecting at all, but i think its the patch/ berry combo that does it I much prefer this though, the cocoa, spiciness and vanilla are really beautiful and I got a tester so the lasting power is really quite good. I like the edp a lot more but this just performs better with a few differences Update: I've really been wearing this a lot lately, and I find it has different characteristics depending on the weather. I personally love it in the geat, all the spicy notes intensify and it gets a lovely velvety chocolate note to it. In cool weather it's a lot softer and sweeter, but it always lasts a long time. I find it's one of those scents that; to sniff where I've sprayed it on my wrist it, it seems to npt last but then all day I get whafts of it all around me on my clothes and in my hair so it does last. I've been looking for the L' excess flanker and can only find it in one store after I got a sample and quite liked it, but I actually think I prefer this tbh, it doesn't have the overly sweet grape-y note .