Cristalle Eau de Parfum

I first experienced this intriguing fragrance as a 17 year old 90s era punk-grunge-raver child. My stepmother asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I thought of an ad I saw in Cosmo. The moody model, and the name itself "CRISTALLE", just spoke to me. To my delight she bought it. I recently turned 44 and decided to gift myself an original 1994 vintage bottle (still sealed in the original cellophane complete with a price tag of $62.50!) for a princely sum off eBay. This trip down memory lane made it so worth it. My skin still loves this stuff. Previous reviewers describe this as "decay". That it smells "cold", "austere", "sharp", and "polarizing". To me this is the mid-morning sun in spring, warming a snow covered hillside somewhere (Lapland, perhaps Iceland) with long, cold, and dark winters. I get the sound of snow melting and water running down an earthen hill to the meadow below. It's the smell of bright, warm sunlight which thaws the frozen bulbs underground, and springs tree buds back to life. There are prismatic rays and sundogs in my mind's eye. New grass grows back lush, thick, and green from the light, warmth, and water. This fragrance whispers "new life" to me. Cristalle opens with zingy citrus and the aldehydes unique to Chanel. I get a rather sweet, crisp lemon blossom, giving way to orange juice. I'm detecting a bitter twist of bergamot as well. The florals then appear. Stemmy and green, I get buds (not mature flowers) of jasmine, ylang ylang, and white rose. I imagine this is what water lilies smell like in an animated dream. Next I get melon. Green, bittersweet, ripe honeydew; and a bit of cucumber. Now there's an herbal accord that smells exactly of lemon verbena, with chamomile and some dill in the background. On the dry down the moss is very forward. It's a wet moss, not dry. What makes it a bit sweet-ish must be the peach, because on my skin Cristalle EDP turns a bit sweet. I'm absolutely in love. Opposed to "cold", Cristalle is the warmth of post-winter sunshine. It's bright aldehydic citrus, followed by fresh cut herbs in lush, green grass, sweetened by melon and realistic smelling exotic flower buds, grounded with earthy vetiver and damp moss. It's strangely carnal to me, only because of personal experiences while wearing this. It causes me to wonder what memories it would evoke in past lovers if they were to catch it's unique trail. I'm so delighted to be experiencing this beautiful and beloved frag again 🤍. Cristalle is a perfect fresh yet earthy chypre. All seasons, day or night. Thank you Coco Chanel and Jacques Polge for this magical gift of olfactory pleasure.

And another vintage Chanel grabs my heart. I recently acquired a vintage Cristalle EDT (golden juice, from the 90s I believe), and am starting to fall for that. And today I received a vintage 4 ml sample of this. The only Polge creation I don’t like is his Eau De Parfum interpretation of No 5, I far prefer vintage EDT and parfum. But this, is another masterpiece under his belt. At first it was hard for me to imagine that I wasn’t wearing the EDT. It seems so similar. Despite changing the notes, and me being able to smell the peach/melon, he really did keep it very close to the original EDT. Wish I could wear this more but full bottles of this are hard to find. Such a shame that Chanel has discontinued this. Might just try to have a talk with customer service about reissuing this, perhaps in their Les Exclusifs line. Update 03/27 - Just scored a 35 ml (1.2 oz) full bottle from the 90s! Literally such a deal that I won’t find again haha. Didn’t come with the box but did come with the original Chanel cosmetic bag it was bundled with back in the 90s. It has that beautiful golden juice, and the text on the bottle is raised more than other bottles I own and almost has a sparkle to it (could actually just be dirty lol). I also can’t check the batch code as it’s only 3 digits. Either one faded or this is some oddity in production from the 90s. But I have a vintage 4 ml splash sample of the EDP, and a vintage .5 oz spray bottle of the EDT and this bottle is definitely real. It hasn’t lost any of its top notes. And honestly after spraying, I think fragrantica might not have the complete notes listed? Or it’s just masterfully blended (it IS both Polge and Chanel). I think* I prefer the EDT, but I still love this. I used to have such a different idea of what a green fragrance was, and the vintage Chanel chypre’s have opened my mind and nose so much. I also find this to be the bridge between the vintage chypres and modern ones. Such a beautiful gem...haha. 🥀

I've just copied and pasted my review for the Cristalle EDT below. To get a sense of the EDP, imagine that description, only refracted through a semi-sheer veil of jasmine, peach, and melon. Have your jasmine/peach/melon semi-sheer goggles on? OK, good. You may proceed: I know Cristalle is supposed to be one of those "chypre" things, but I can't help but see it as another pinnacle in Chanel's pantheon of green scents. (See also: N°19, Bel Respiro.) As I've remarked before in other reviews, Chanel just can't seem to create "green" that isn't flawless. Cristalle is grounded with a weighty galbanum/oakmoss base, and what a wondrous, earthy base it is. Over that, though, it's crystal clear, the hyacinth and citrus and vetiver floating into the sky, bobbing amongst the clouds. The oakmoss holds their balloon strings, ensuring they don't drift too far up into the atmosphere. And, in a way, that's how Cristalle feels too—grounded and clear-headed, bright and purposeful. It's a shame that most department-store Chanel counters no longer stock Cristalle. A criminal shame, if you ask me. If I had a little more muscle and temerity, I'd perform a citizen's arrest. Off to the Hague! ETA: In contrast to many Chanel scents, Cristalle EDP can be found quite affordably. My vintage 30 mL splash only cost me $20 on eBay. I guess there’s an upside to the masses largely (though unacceptably!) forgetting this gem.

Ahhh, such a beauty is my ice queen 🧊👑🍃🪾. Opens crisp, watery cucumber, grassy vetiver, with recognizable juicy orange; soon blooming into the luxurious (not your loud or screechy), elegant, and soapy-clean 90s Chanel floral DNA at the heart. The final drydown is earthy, mossy, sun-drenched (aldehydic) woods wrapped in melon-tipped jasmine. Fresh, yet earthy. Chanel Cristalle is the first thaw after a long, cold winter bottled. Supreme and sophisticated example of a classic floral chypre. The natural oak moss in this 1994 made formula, before IFRA restrictions wiped its use, is everything. I bought a sealed in box 100ml off eBay a few years ago, and it still hasn't turned, all of the notes and nuances are preserved perfectly. A welcome olfactory vacation from modern day highly synthetic reformulations & the cheaply made vanilla-centered gourmands assaulting my senses nowadays. They don't make them like this anymore, and I'd be sad if this fragrance didn't make me so happy. Chanel fragrances do not get the love they deserve. Timeless, classy, elegant, and well put together fragrances for classy people. The hate N°5 gets on social media is a by-product of group thought from a clueless minority, because N°5 is a study in timeless elegance as well. Old money trumps any weird, overpriced niche concept BS. Those who know, know. 🫶🏻

Breathing in Cristalle is to be immersed in a filter of greeny-silver oakmoss, through which all the other scents are witchified. Its the quintessential dappled-forest-wild-flower olfactory garden walk. I initially get verdigris-mandarin with a very ripe, green melon rising and a peach which has absorbed the heady essense of a nearby jasmine. Its magic; odd and fascinating, in a surprising way. After 10 minutes I detect a dusty/musty undertone rising; its the same note I got yesterday when trying Diorella for the first time. It's silvery-grey-green; bittery and woodsy oakmoss which seems, to my nose, eau de bark. It's damp in a dappled woodland which I am appreciating, whereas yesterday it put me off Diorella and seemed to dominate the scent. After an hour the vetiver is rising, and I can now also find honeysyckle and hyacinth with a sticky note of ylang-ylang emerging as well. On my cotton test strip (sprayed an hour ago) I can smell petitgrain (not listed in the notes) as the dominant note, with the grey-silvery-green oakmoss also strongly present and a myriad of florals twined throughout; hyacinth, honeysuckle, jasmine, ylang-ylang and that ripe green melon as well. This is witchy art and I am under its spell this morning. Haiku of the day: bewitched by cristalle silvery grey-green oakmoss shot through with florals