XS pour Homme 
Paco Rabanne (1993)

This is for real man,surely not for sweet guys dressed in leggings like we can see these days.there is something in XS smell that makes me healthy.and in times like these,the power of positive thoughts is more valuable than ever. it's a very nice quality,masculine scent that i find perfect for an office sitting; on one hand,i could say that XS is not spectacular but rather a safe fresh-woody fragrance.on other hand,that's part of this Xs charm that i find to be highly under-rated.

This very bright abd energizing citrus powdery woods fragrance is an ode to the fusion of energies of man and nature and combines notes of lemon, mint, bergamot,rosemary,tarragon, juniper, sandalwood,oakmoss,cedar. the result is very masculine rugged beauty.i get an honest 7-8 hours out of this fragrance with good projection. again perfect for a day in the office during the spring and fall,but I've fallen in love with this one and find it to be a versatile fragrance that is appropriate for most occasions.

With a strong marine note there's an aquatic theme to this.
Field mint - growing in a meadow by the sea - with notes of hay... and then dry sand and powdery woods.
But there's no place for the sweet note at the end, which disrupts the whole journey from salt meadow to driftwood.
Fragrantica says there is a 2018 version which "reportedly remains unchanged".
I hope so, it's a good piece of work (except for the first half hour which is manic) and worth trying out.

XS was one of my favourite fragrances of the nineties together with Joop! pour homme and Le Mâle. Contrary to those two XS is much more gentle and not that outspoken. Its a damn good citrus/mint/orange fragrance. I wore only black in the nineties and lots of Paco Rabanne pieces, XS completed that picture. It's simply not true that it doesn't last long and nobody around you can smell it. I got the most complements when i used XS and only the original Kouros could beat that. Today I bought a bottle XS after 20 years of absence. Yes the bottle changed in 2018 (regrettable) but luckily the smell is still the same. 1 million and Invictus are cheap modern fragrances against this classic. Definitely two thumbs up!

Paco Rabanne, like so many designers near the end of the 80's, jumped on the "dandy revival" floral-phase of the powerhouse phenomenon that turned everyone's colognes "to 11", releasing Ténéré (1988) to compete alongside scents like Zino Davidoff (1986), and Lapidus Pour Homme (1987); but like most of its floral sandalwood chypre or fougère peers, Ténéré was cut down as irrelevant not very far into the 90's thanks to the "freshies" taking over. Paco Rabanne already needed a new pillar scent, as it was clear they wouldn't be able to milk Ténéré with flankers over the next decade as they had done with Paco Rabanne Pour Homme (1973). Thus, 20 years after their eponymous masuline hit the market, the folks at Paco Rabanne unleashed Paco Rabanne XS pour Homme (1993), a scent with an innocuous fresh fougère top, a wet-shaving backbone, and featuring a few "loud" twists in typical Paco Rabanne style. Rosendo Mateau, who was a veteran perfumer for Rabanne often on loan from parent company Puig, was teamed with Gérard Anthony, who himself was responsible for greats like Azzaro Pour Homme (1978) and the cult classic Balenciaga Pour Homme (1990), with neither perfumer really working on something in this mild new vein prior. It sort of shows on XS that they were a bit subversive with the "freshie" formula because it's a scent meant to go on quietly but periodically raise its voice during the wear. There's nothing even remotely scandalous about XS, and it draws some parallels to Burberry for Men (1995); but you will ever-so-slightly edge out other freshies if you wear this side-by-side with somebody decked out in something like Curve (1996), just not the super fruity "teen de toilettes" like Tommy by Tommy Hilfiger (1994), or Hugo by Hugo Boss (1995).

Paco Rabanne XS Pour Homme opens similarly to Eternity for Men in the very beginning, arriving on a cloud of soft lavender, shimmering ozonics, and dry bergamot; adding in mint, lemon, mandarin orange, rosemary, and tarragon; which plays tug-of-war with sweet and herbal directions on top of a bracing bite afforded by the mint. At once, XS is both soft and loud. My nose gets mostly the lavender, mint, and herbs with calone at first, with the citrus just used as a vehicle for them, until the middle shows up. Geranium, coriander, sage, rosewood, and juniper consist of the mid-phase; but I mostly get geranium and sage, like a classic mid-century barbershop aftershave, with juniper berry adding a nondescript sweetness which draws parallels to the apple notes sometimes found in other freshies from this era, and rosewood being too well-blended if there. XS finally starts calming down with the oakmoss base, which is slight even in pre-IFRA formulations, since vanilla, amber, and sandalwood do most of the talking in a surprise turn away from the fougère category and into powdery tones way late in the game. Since cloth holds top notes longer, spraying this on shirt and skin creates two different developments, as the shirt reveals more of the oakmoss, patchouli, cedar, and tonka alongside the lavender and minty citrus top; while the amount sprayed on skin turns into a different scent altogether with the aforementioned vanilla, creamy sandalwood, and amber. If nothing else, XS is certainly more complex and blended than most "fresh fougères" from this era, which is a nice creative lean in an otherwise marketing-focused genre made to please crowds and not individual tastes in fragrance. Perhaps Rosendo Mateau brought this touch to the scent, as he had been around doing things like this since the 1960's.

Paco Rabanne XS is housed in a really interesting "Zippo bottle" that would later be adapted by several other perfumers like Jacomo and Jean-Louis Vermeil, becoming quite an iconic shape for masculine perfumes. The scent itself is ultimately rather nondescript like most things from this era, but better quality than most too. Creed Himalaya (2002) is touted as being a high-end alternative to 90's fresh fougères in general, and particularly similar to this; so maybe little 'ol Paco inspired the almighty Creed here, who knows? XS also had hilariously sleezy ads, including one featuring a lap dance, which gives me endless chuckles considering how tame the scent is, outside of the edgy packaging. XS actually stands for "Excess" (which is almost never stated anywhere outside the box it comes in), and shows the lengths Paco Rabanne was willing to take in order to retain the bad-boy image its masculine lines had garnered over the decade, despite the fragrance being thoroughly conformist. XS is enjoyable as a work scent, or casual weekend cologne, being good in spring through fall, and could be a signature. The line would go onto be Paco Rabanne's most successful one, taking the reigns from the self-titled pour homme, and still spawns new flankers even after the release of 1 Million (2008) effectively succeeded it. I like XS enough, because a plain cheeseburger can be tasty like a fancy one if it's broiled right, and this exudes quality even if it has the personality of a 1993 Chevy Corsica. The flankers further in get much more radical in structure than the original, which is something XS has in common with the genre-defining Calvin Klein Eternity for Men (1989). A good solid dumb-grab workday choice for folks that miss the 90's, with enough dynamics to be an entertaining wear throughout the day. Thumbs up