Pure XS arrived in 2017 as Paco Rabanne’s reboot of its XS line for a generation raised on festivals and club nights rather than the boardroom fragrances the house built its name on. Perfumer Anne Flipo built it as an amber-vanilla fragrance engineered specifically for projection in warm, crowded rooms, and the launch campaign, all strobe lighting and pool parties, made clear exactly who it was aimed at. A 100ml bottle sits at a recommended retail price of around £85, though most UK retailers discount it heavily, with real prices typically landing between £50 and £65. Here’s the confirmed alternative if you want the same amber-vanilla loudness for a fraction of even the discounted price.
The Amber-Vanilla Structure Behind Pure XS
Pure XS opens with mandarin and ginger, a sharp, slightly spiced top note that fades quickly into the fragrance’s real identity: cinnamon in the heart, building into a dense base of vanilla, tonka bean and patchouli. It’s a fragrance built for longevity and volume over subtlety, the kind of scent designed to still be detectable on a jacket the next morning after a night out, which is exactly the brief it was built to.
The Confirmed Match: Yodeyma Nº124
Yodeyma Nº124 is Yodeyma’s documented version, and its note breakdown, ginger and resin at the top, cinnamon and myrrh in the heart, vanilla, leather and liqueur at the base, follows the same spiced-amber arc as the original almost exactly. At £6.29 to £25.19 across sizes against £50-plus for even a discounted Paco Rabanne bottle, it’s a fraction of the cost for a fragrance whose main selling point was never subtlety in the first place.
Built for Volume, Not the Office
This isn’t a fragrance to reach for on a Tuesday morning commute. Pure XS and its Yodeyma equivalent are built to be loud in warm, crowded environments, nights out, festivals, anywhere body heat helps the amber-vanilla base bloom rather than sit flat. Two sprays go further than you’d expect; this is one of the few fragrance families where over-applying is a genuinely common and avoidable mistake.
Where It Sits Against Other High-Projection Scents
Pure XS runs sweeter and more gourmand than 1 Million, which leans more towards a straightforward leather-and-spice profile without the vanilla-heavy base, and it’s considerably louder than most office-safe fragrances in the Yodeyma range. For the other major high-projection amber option, our guide to Paco Rabanne 1 Million alternatives covers the house’s other big-projection signature in full.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many sprays should I actually use?
Two sprays to the chest is plenty. This fragrance family is built for high projection, so applying it like a lighter, office-safe scent will result in more presence than most rooms need.
Does Yodeyma Nº124 include the vanilla-liqueur base clearly?
Yes, it’s one of the more pronounced parts of the fragrance, coming through strongly once the ginger and cinnamon opening settles.
Is this a good fragrance for daytime wear?
It can be, in cooler weather and smaller doses, but it’s built and marketed for evenings and warm, social settings rather than office or daytime use.
