Cristalle Eau de Parfum (1993)
by Chanel

Once again in my search for the perfect summer fragrance, I purchased this, untried, from the Chanel website. My first reaction was TOO strong, a sentiment that I rarely express. Immediately I put this in the "give away" box. Curiosity got the better of me, so I tried it again. Nope! Back to the box. (Will I ever grow into anything but No 5 from Chanel?) On the third try, I began to understand. This is like some people...hard to love. Yet there is something that keeps me coming back. Cristalle is definately a chypre but it lacks the beauty of Mitsouko and the complexity of Diorella. However, anyone who is serious about perfume should try this once...maybe three times. PS I have gone through yet another bottle of this stuff. I cannot imagine a summer without it. A true classic!

I love Cristalle EDP. It is warm and mellow and peachy/green in its dry-down. It has a certain "je ne sais quoi" ( - with apologies to all French speakers for any incorrect spelling - ) about it, too, which screams "classy, French, chic". It's this unknown quality that keeps me coming back for more. I have been through several bottles.

In the debate between the EDP and the EDT, I much prefer the EDP. Although the EDT is nice, it lacks the sunny warmth and ripe peachy-ness of the EDP. I also prefer Cristalle - both the EDT and the EDP - to Diorella which, although often favourably compared to Cristalle, smells quite sour on my skin.

To smell absolutely divine, I layer the EDP over the body lotion. Pure bliss!

Cristalle EDP is, in my view, the best Chanel by far......

By-the-way, I'd love to know where the name "Cristalle" came from. Can anyone tell me?

Cristalle smells like cut grass galore. After a while on skin, it softens and warms up slightly and develops a more powdery/aldehydic quality beside the cut grass that is still going strong. At this stage, it reminds me of the smell of dandelions - not just the flowers but the entire plant. I don't mind the smell of dandelions, but it's not something I want on my skin as the harsh, sour green notes can get a little sickening.

Anyone considering Cristalle, I highly recommend you go with the Eau de Toilette rather than this Eau de Parfum. They are actually by two different perfumers. The Toilette is much fresher, sweeter and softer. The Parfum has an acidic bite that can be nauseating and overwhelming. As a child we had a guest from overseas who wore the Toilette and her room used to smell divine. I went to a department store years later to buy this nostalgically evocative scent and the (ignorant) saleswoman talked me into the Parfum "cos it's exactly the same it just lasts longer". What absolute rubbish that turned out to be!

I'm in the "this turns my stomach" -camp for Cristalle; unfortunately. It's a perfume I wish I could like and wear, but Cristalle is absolutely not for me - both the EDT and EDP smell very bad on me and right from the opening, the scent is too pungent, synthetic and yet somehow hollow.

I was feeling nostalgic for Cristalle EdT, and not knowing that the EdP is a completely different formulation, I purchased it, and was a little surprised at how it differed from my memory of it. It wasn't until I checked on Basenotes that I realized my mistake.

The EdP definitely smells more floral, to me. It lacks the metallic sharpness that I remember from the EdT. I thought it smelled fairly nice on my skin, unlike the EdT, which somehow turns sour. My husband, however, found it completely vomitous, and told me so with great force.

Today, I also encountered a lady at work who was wearing it, and something about it made me feel like retching. Perhaps it was the lady, herself. But, in any case, with two episodes of nausea, neither of which can be attributed to pregnancy, I've decided the Cristalle EdP is just not for me.