Pure XS
Leather is the material that makes Rabanne Pure XS Eau de Toilette worth a sniff, because very little else at this price puts it next to vanilla and means it.
The list runs thyme, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, myrrh and leather, and it behaves as a block rather than a sequence. Thyme and ginger give the first few minutes a dry herbal heat, cinnamon pushes that into something warmer and barkier, and then the vanilla arrives and changes the register completely, thick and slightly boozy. Myrrh is the material most people cannot name but can smell: resinous, bitter, a little dusty, and the reason the vanilla never turns into cake. Leather sits alongside it, smooth rather than tarry, closer to a new jacket than to a saddle, and between them they keep a sweet composition on the right side of sickly.
Six materials means there is no long story to follow. It opens warm, stays warm, and gradually loses the spice while holding the vanilla and the leather, which is exactly what makes it an easy evening scent rather than something you have to monitor. As an eau de toilette it carries less oil than a parfum, so it is better applied twice in a night than once in excess, and it is best in cold weather and after dark. Anne Flipo, Bruno Jovanovic and Caroline Dumur composed it, in 2018.
Behind it is a house with a split history. The fashion label began with a 1966 Paris collection under Paco Rabanne's own name; the scents were a separate venture built by the Spanish group Puig from 1968, with Calandre as the opening release in 1969. Puig bought the brand in 1987 and now runs everything, and the company trades without the Paco.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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