Cristalle
Cristal
Chanel 1974 Eau de Toilette

Cristalle / Cristal (Eau de Toilette) by Chanel

8.2 / 10 283 Ratings

A popular perfume by Chanel for women, released in 1974. The scent is green-fresh. It is still in production.
Pronunciation

Main accords

Green

Fresh

Citrus

Floral

Chypre

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lemon

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Hyacinth

Honeysuckle

Rosewood

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Jasmine absolute Vetiver

Vetiver

Perfumer

Henri Robert

Ratings

Scent

8.2283 Ratings

Longevity

6.8222 Ratings

Sillage

6.0213 Ratings

Bottle

7.5220 Ratings

Value for money

7.257 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 07/09/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Cristalle Eau de Parfum

Flora Jade

Grey Vetiver Eau de Toilette

Diorella Eau de Toilette

George

Tiare Eau de Parfum

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/14/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 8

If Looks Could Kill; Substitute Scent

I’ve really enjoyed chypre fragrances for a while and I have Cristalle to thank. When I first smelled Cristalle (many years ago before I really became a perfume hobbyist) I didn’t really know anything about categories of fragrances or what made them what they were. It was 1982 and I was in college. I wore Antaeus, Kouros, No 5, and Je Reviens. Powerhouse men’s 80s and lady-like floral aldehydes. When I tried Cristalle at some department store or other, I had no idea what to make of it. It’s as if this had dropped in from space. I can’t say I loved it, but it marked me.

When I smelled it again many years later I found it simply gorgeous. It smelled just as it had the first time, but I had changed. I was ready for it. It is pristine. I know some find it off-putting (even many who like it) but I find it has just the right timbre, the perfect inflection. It is an odd, spare chord and might not be particularly harmonious in a feel-good, symphonic sense but it has a perfect tonality. My only difficulty with it (as with both No 19 edt and Pour Monsieur) is that it just doesn’t last for me. It has just a fraction more lasting power than an eau de cologne. Despite this, I love its evolution over time. It starts green, strong, astringent and then has a fairly quick transition to a mossy, melon-like floral like nothing else I’ve smelled. From this point it just sort of blows away, becoming a ghost of itself, but, for an hour or so, a recognizable one.

06/21/2014

10
Bottle 7.5
Sillage 7.5
Longevity 9
Scent

MasterLi
375 Reviews

MasterLi

Very helpful Review 6

Like a walk through a wet forest in the spring...

This fragrance, whilst being a classic, is certainly (not) for everyone!

What hits me upon initial impression is the bitterness of it all. A hit of very citric lemon and oakmoss which stays throughout the life of the fragrance, coupled with a floral drydown (I'm detecting a little hedione, or jasmin-like smell). This is very "green" and sparkling, hence the name Cristalle.

It smells very very mossy and lemony acidic, almost giving the impression to me of walking through a forest with the trees and flowers still wet from the spring rain. To me it doesn't exude "freshness" because of the heavy oakmoss vibe, but I can see what other people mean when they describe it that way.

Who would wear this fragrance? Well, anyone who likes "green" or "hesperidic" (i.e. slightly citric) scents... or those who like a little bitterness in their fragrances. On that kind of person it will be a holy grail fragrance. For me, I enjoy it (it's also completely unisex as an EDT), but I can't fit into it so easily.

Overall... is it well made? Yes. Is it a classic? Yes. For everyone? Well, for those who like this type of scent... green, bitter, mossy, damp, citric and sparkling! Like rain dew on flowers and musty, moss-covered tree logs in the forest after a downpour of heavy spring rain. You've done it again Chanel... (to me) this is slightly disturbing, yet unmistakably unique!

06/11/2013

Digindirt
47 Reviews

Digindirt

7

Smell ya later

Word on the street is that this fragrance in vintage form is sought after. Yes well the demonic and competitive side of me always tends to seize the opportunity when I have a chance.

So I went to the store, where they have a BNIB Cristalle just minding her own business, looking for a good home. I'm pretty good at giving fragrances a good home so I gave her a try.Bad Move on my part. What the what? This crap is so overly citric it's pathetic. Who wears this stuff? One sniff threw me into a coughing fit and had me wheezing (I don't have asthma). Solidly sour and equally offensive, I knew there was no way I would reconsider.

We had a brief moment, lasted about 15 seconds and I knew in my heart of hearts that this Vintage Chanel would have to wait for a different taxi because there is no way I'm giving her a ride home! I told her to take a hike!

None of the listed notes were present, my nose only smelled bitterness. Sour, rancid lemons or limes. Nasty, just nasty.

I carefully placed her back into her cardboard coach, and gave her a final salutation. Peace out my friend, don't call me, I'll call you.

01/30/2023

ArkangeL
152 Reviews

ArkangeL

3

The Power Woman

Funny how smelling a fragrance can instantly place you on a timeline where you never existed. Fragrances in the 70s took time to gain popularity, especially if they were not widely available. I imagine this was very popular by the early 80s, because that is the vibe that I got when I sprayed this in the Chanel boutique. The age of the Power Woman. Big hair, big shades, bold colors, shoulder pads and pumps. Upon the first spritz, I swear I thought I heard Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield playing in the background. Maybe it was Cyndi Lauper or Madonna? Cristalle like many other women's fragrances from this era were composed of heady florals and woody, mossy undertones. This fragrance has a sparkling opening, delivering a burst of white flowers but heavy on the hyacinth. The conclusion is a typical, but pleasantly cool powdery dry down. Dated? Perhaps, but very refined. During the 70s and 80s, this was considered modern. We millennials and later generations often turn our noses up at classic perfumes, but ask yourself... if you were of that era and living your life as an adult in the 80s, what perfume would you be wearing? I ask myself this question often and I always come up with Chanel Antaeus and Santos de Cartier.

07/23/2018

9
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

Aventurin
6 Reviews

Translated Show original

Aventurin

Top Review 42

I'm not gonna marry in the fall, and I'm not gonna marry in the spring

I've dedicated a statement to Cristalle before, but this special Chanel deserves a comment - like so many other fragrances, I know, but perfume and time are reciprocally proportional to each other in my case.
It is special because, alongside all the new releases, it actually seems to have fallen out of time, but not because it comes along old-fashioned, but because it so pleasantly stands out from the banal, pleasing uniform trend, whose impulses also thrive in the perfume laboratory of the time-honoured fashion house. Cristalle is not a difficult fragrance, it does not have the opulent, finely differentiated noblesse of many Exclusifs, but is unadorned beautiful, unobtrusive and - the best - free of any sweetness and watery powdery boredom à la N°5 L'Eau. He stands a little alone and resembles N°19 EdT.
in his discreet and yet expressive lightness most likely
Cristalle is bitter like a frosty spring morning, cool like pale porcelain stone. The cold, not tangy-freshening lemon - almost metallic-clear, as if you were bowing a crystal - embeds itself in a delicate heart of hyacinth, light violet and green floral iridescent. Softer tones soften the initial austerity, the flowery centre is interwoven silvery transparent, supported by a very delicate mossy background, more airy-grey than warm dark green.
Cristalle is straightforward, straightforward and sovereign, minimally tender behind his silky veil of distance, in his whole being unapproachable, proud and determined, like these song lines - only without the pain - from the song "The Bachelor" by Patrick Wolf
"I'm not gonna marry in the fall
And I'm not gonna marry in the spring
I will never marry - marry at all
No one will wear my silver ring"

Whoever wears it walks upright, perhaps sometimes with a wistful blink, but straight ahead. Without looking back.

More reviews