Xi'a Xi'ang (1987)
by Revlon (originally by Charles of the Ritz)

I remember the commercial for this. The way the man said "Zeeee, ahh, zeee-ahhng..." But I don't remember ever having smelled it until just the other day. I came across a bottle at a thrift store (I go on scent hunts...you'd be surprised at what you can find in thrift stores!) which was about a third full. I sniffed the cap and said "I'll take it!". The initial waft was intriguing and when I saw the name on the bottom, home it went.
Xi'a Xi'ang is incredibly good. Like a deliciously resinous and powdery bouquet of exotic flowers.
Revlon is usually quite dependable; occupying that rare niche between drugstore and department store (a niche which Revlon seems to have invented)-but this smells much more high end--in the YSL realm. And this does seem to be a latecomer to the oriental fragrance game of the mid 70's. A floral-oriental as opposed to a spicy one; perhaps because spicy had been so over done by the late 80's. But X-X doesn't seem to have found a core audience. It certainly wasn't publicized very much. That commercial only aired a few times. It's too bad. This stuff must be good, because my partner, who never says anything about fragrance, asked me what cologne I was wearing the other day. Revlon should bring it back. In a new bottle though. My only gripe about this is the bottle. It's a bit on the tacky side.

This was the very first perfume I ever wore and owned. Every time I smell it, it reminds me of my early days of womanhood. Summer days, dress up and first love. I also believe this fragrance influenced my preference for Oriental florals.

My skin changes 99% of perfumes into something totally gross and acid... I only found two perfumes in my life that I could wear! One was a solid and my all time favourite was Xi'a Xi'ang... I dearly missed it and have not found another one that smells nice on me since!

As for the name, Guy Cook in his book "The Discourse on Advertising" indicates (on p. 83-84) that the perfume's logo is reminiscent of a stylized calligraphy of the two Chinese characters meaning "Distant Thoughts" and "Daydream"....

I also heard (where was that from?) that in Chinese Xi'a Xi'ang with a different intonation could mean something like "pink cloud".

Wish they would bring it back... :o)

I really liked this as an "office" fragrance. Light, subtle, never offensive. Even freshly sprayed it never offended anyone. Not much lasting power though. I am sorry it has been discontinued, cheerful pretty little scent.

I recall enjoying this a lot when I was in my mid-teens - it was among my first full-bottle purchases - but eventually I got tired of it. I remember that there was something about the scent that reminded me of freshly sharpened pencils, in a good way. I recently came upon a sample and now I can enjoy that flood of memories that come from scent. I like it - a floral oriental, but not rich especially, rather unobtrusive. A floriental that you can wear during the day, that doesn't take over a room. And the packaging is gorgeous, even better than I remembered.