Cristalle Eau de Toilette (1974)
by Chanel

Aldehydes and citrus are what you get when you apply Cristalle, joined almost immediately by sharp, bitter green notes and a balancing dose of sweet flowers. Cristalle’s components come rushing in at high speed, and arrange themselves with equal haste into a clean, grassy floral heart accord, wrapped in a shimmering cloud of aldehydes and resting on a nutty chypre foundation. The blending of components is exemplary here, so that it soon becomes extremely difficult for me to isolate individual notes.

Cristalle settles into bright green floral chypre territory for several hours, with only moderate projection, but paradoxically persistent sillage. As Cristalle ages it does not so much develop as very slowly fade away, its soft chypre base accord being the last element to exit. Cristalle is one of those cases - like some of the Diptyque scents - where I enjoy the heart accord so much that I’m happy that it remains relatively linear! After spending some time with it, Cristalle impresses me as a very well-made and alluring fragrance in a style well removed from Chanel’s accustomed aldehydic floral manner.

Starts out sharply, composty green, but dries down into a much nicer chypre: sweet-and-sour, juicy green notes on a dusty dry, crumbled up, brown oakmossy base.

A truly stunning fragrance. Starts off quite green reminding me of fresh cut flowers. Dries down to a lovely soft and feminine bouquet. Unfortunately, as with most fragrances, Cristalle is not long lasting on me and has no sillage to speak of but my clothes seem to hold the scent longer and smell gorgeous when I "accidently" spray them when dousing myself.

Cristalle is a brighter, cleaner Diorella in many respects. The aldehyde burst lets free a lovely green floral that reminds me most of the Freesia alba, not those ultra-sweet modern freesias in electric colors, but the humble ivory and green blossom that to me is the ultimate green floral note. Both are assertive, but playful. There is a hint of lemon, but definitely not your Lemon Pledge variety. Cristalle's delightful chypre is only slightly metallic and has some richness that I can't put into words. This note stays around the longest, relatively unmodified until it eventually fades away.

After many years away from this fragrance (it was one of my regulars), I tried it again yesterday. In my opinion it has withstood the test of time very well and I'm considering a bottle for old time's sake. Perhaps it's a fragrance more suited to someone young, but smelling it made me feel awfully young at heart.

I love the EdT version of this frargance (the original.) It is fresh and clean. The lemon is there, but it is not as harsh as in other perfumes. After it stays on the skin for a few minutes the harsness goes away, and a soft, sensual fragrance comes across. This perfume reminds me of summers in the Mediterranean when the breeze goes through the lemon orchards. It has that short of crispness. But, I have to say that it is not just a summer frargance. It can also be worn wondefully in the winter time. It is timeless, elegant, and extremely sofisticated. Its longevity is excellent. I also think the perfume transforms itself from a sporty day fragrance to an elegant night time perfume.

The initial burst is confusing.... it's not clear what will emerge from the aldehydes. It's a mish-mash of floral, green, and citrus notes. What quickly emerges is a fruity/floral chypre heart that is extremely similar to Diorella. Diorella is a favorite of mine and I'm thus pretty familiar with its intricacies. I tested Cristalle against Diorella, arm to arm, and say that Cristalle is about 80% of Diorella, but with the volume turned down by about half... and by volume I mean sillage, longevity, and just the general robustness of the fruit an floral notes themselves. Diorella was a successful release in 1972. Cristalle was released in '74... can this be coincidence?

Ignoring the Diorella comparison, Cristalle by itself is a solid classic feminine chypre, with a particular emphasis on the lemon notes initially and the floral (hyacinth? really?) later on. Longevity is not great on me - 2-3 hours, and by the time the base merges there's not much to smell.... the heart just fades out.

In and of itself, Cristalle EdT is very nice (avoid the EdP, which is heavy and uncomfortable). In relation to Diorella, I'd choose Diorella.