# Clive Christian — X For Women

> X For Women (2001) is a fruity-chypre parfum built around a juicy peach-and-pineapple top, an Egyptian jasmine heart and a patchouli-musk-labdanum base, marketed as the soft, "approachably erotic" fem

## Essence
X For Women (2001) is a fruity-chypre parfum built around a juicy peach-and-pineapple top, an Egyptian jasmine heart and a patchouli-musk-labdanum base, marketed as the soft, "approachably erotic" feminine counterpart to X For Men. It launched under the revived Crown Perfumery banner that Clive Christian acquired in 1999, and is best known in enthusiast circles for two things: a strong, repeatedly noted resemblance to Gucci Rush, and a luxury price tag that polarizes opinion about whether the juice justifies the crown-topped bottle.
## Scent Profile
Wear experience per //Luckyscent wearers writing: it opens loud but improbably pretty - peach, pineapple and tart rhubarb with bergamot and mandarin, a "luscious mostly peach" fruity-floral burst. The heart is a luminous, abstract jasmine (a "bell-like" jasmine "hard to catch at times") supported by rose and a powdery orris/ionone violet-iris facet; the lily-of-the-valley listed is faint to most ("I do not pick up muguet"). The signature accord is the fruit-on-patchouli structure: after roughly half an hour it settles to "a luxurious mix of patchouli, deep flowers and complex fruit but not gourmand in any way," before a clean patchouli/woods/vanilla-labdanum drydown that several describe as "fruity fresh. A detailed technical reviewer attributes the silky peach to aldehyde C14 (a peach lactone) and the luminous jasmine to hedione, reading the construction as a quality-materials echo of the Tresor/violet-iris lineage. Largely smooth and well-blended - "individual notes do not really stand out."
## Performance
Reports conflict sharply, suggesting batch or skin variance. Multiple wearers report excellent, room-filling longevity and trailing sillage as a parfum - "long-lasting, with the scent remaining prominent for 8-10 hours" per one detailed account; "incredible" longevity per others, with compliments noted across a room. But a substantial minority report the opposite: "does not last longer than 2 hours before becoming so faint as to be hardly perceptible," and one wearer logged "about 5 hours on my wrists and around 8 hours on my clothes. Consensus: potent and dense at the open, with real projection in its first phase, but with a real risk of disappointing drydown longevity on some skin.
## Wearing Context
Practical reading: an evening and cool-weather scent. Wearers framing is "very much for evening," "much better suited for evenings when you want to be close to someone special," and "suitable for formal occasions and colder weather. Applied sparingly it can go to the office; it is generally read as a confident, "commanding presence," seductive fruity-floral rather than a casual daytime fresh. One reviewer's anecdote of a woman at a cocktail party reacting to it captures its provocative, statement-making social skew.
## Comparisons & DNA
The dominant named comparison, overwhelmingly, is **Gucci Rush** - "almost an exact ringer," "a juicy Gucci Rush that lasts all day," "Gucci Rush decided to go to college, got a PhD. Mature, serious version of Gucci Rush. Both share a lactonic-fruity floral over patchouli; partisans argue X is "less synthetic - earthier, musky, and deep," "finer, more delicate," and "not super sweet. Several reviewers reach for **Guerlain Mitsouko** as a reference point (peach-and-chypre archetype) while noting X opens far juicier and is distinctly modern. One user compared it to **Divine by Divine**.
## Reception
Polarized along a value axis. Admirers consider it among the best feminine Clive Christians - "this is a great fragrance, a classic, rather than the more-hyped CC Woman No. 1 is for showing, X is for wearing" - praising blending, quality and a unique, compliment-getting presence. Critics split into two camps: those who find it simply "Gucci Rush in a prettier bottle" and resent the markup, and a sharper critique calling it "another Clive creation clearly commercial disguised in a luxury fragrance," arguing the price is mostly "exclusivity aura. Blind-buy verdict: enthusiasts who already love Rush-style fruity chypres tend to love it; skeptics are advised to sample first and weigh it against far cheaper alternatives.
## Versions & Reformulation
The fragrance has been sold as Pure Parfum (30 ml) and Eau de Parfum (50/100 ml), and was later rebranded by the house as "X Feminine." Wearer notes mention older bottles with an embossed crown logo; no single dramatic reformulation is documented in documented sources, though some users speculate about batch variation given the inconsistent longevity reports. The house's own materials list a signature "Karo Karundi" white-flower note (a West African shrub essence reputed aphrodisiac) used across the X series. Treat as essentially a single composition with packaging/branding changes rather than a confirmed reformulation.
## Acquisition Notes
Premium/luxury pricing tier. Wearers references cluster around a $350 retail price point for the bottle, with the parfum noted near $865 territory in the house's broader No. 1 line context (X sits below the No. It remains in production.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- The narrative the house attaches to X For Women is the legend of Cleopatra and Mark Antony - Egyptian jasmine, gathered at dusk, said to have scented the sails of Cleopatra's ship.
- The X series' marketing leans on the "approachably erotic" framing as a paired masculine/feminine set.
- The broader Clive Christian lore that shadows every product is the house's "world's most expensive perfume" positioning: per Guinness World Records, "In November 2005, Clive Christian created 'No.
- 1 Imperial Majesty' a 10-bottle, limited edition.
- Priced at £115,000 (then $205,000) per 500 ml," presented in "a Baccarat crystal flacon, decorated with a five-carat white diamond and an 18-carat gold collar," launched at the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie in Harrods - and "the price included delivery in a Bentley.