EDITED TO ADD: There is one of those uber expensive Guerlain La Fontaine Imperiale with Mon Precieux Nectar inside thingies on Ebay . Notes are orange blossom, jasmine, bitter almond, wood, vanilla and musk. If it’s reasonable in the end, I’ll bid if there’s enough takers to split it. So if any of you were thinking, um, yeah! But wanted it at a better price, clickety click on the Contact Us and let me know! Even if you told me before. If it can be bought for 5-7k, it’s 1,000 ml, so the cost would be $5-7 per ml. hey, it’s better than $9-10! And there are only 63 of them that were sold in the world. I know, it’s annoying, but tell me you don’t want some.
After the great success of Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere, they decided to go back and see if lightning would strike twice. could they take a classic and update it enough to keep the admirers of it happy, but entice in a new generation?
I have several variations of Cristalle around here, but I deliberately did not smell them because I wanted to evaluate this on its own as far as the success of this updated flanker. It’s got a nice fresh green open that fairly snaps and pops at you, and I very much like that, veering off into some citrus. It stays fresh while the magnolia emerges as we enter the heart. Notes are Sicilian lemon, bergamot, neroli, jasmine, magnolia accord, abstract white flowers. It’s certainly a nice perfume, feels Chanel-like, definitely a more modern approach to Cristalle, if you were wanting it modernized, but it lost the chypre’ness that was part of the original Cristalle EDT (differentiated from the EDP, which I never liked so well). I think it’s beautifully done, though I think you really have to look it as a completely different perfume from Cristalle EDT or EDP.
Eau Verte is a lovely green magnolia fragrance, easy to wear. I’m not doing backflips over it because it doesn’t smell very distinctive or special in the way Cristalle or I think any Chanel should smell. Do I think Chanel succeeded? Yes, I do, for the same reason I think they did with Eau Premiere. They have taken a classic, retained a piece of the classic, but rendered out a lot of the “old-fashioned” parts that turn off a lot of young women. Whether we old ladies like it or not, women in their 20s – not all of them – don’t want to smell of aldehydes and oakmoss, that makes them feel old, and they want something fresh and modern. Cristalle Eau Verte is made for them, but I wouldn’t turn down wearing it from time to time – old biddy that I am.
Now, Chanel did send me a small bottle of this, so you know what that means!! We’ll give away 10 samples of it. Just drop a comment in to be entered in the drawing.
As for this updating of classics, what’s the best update of a classic that’s been done, in your opinion. And secondly, if you were a perfume company with a long and storied name, like Guerlain or Chanel or YSL or Dior (Dior, you disappoint me the most), what kinds of perfumes would you put out that would keep your old customers happy, but draw in new customers? What’s the business model that would work? Two different lines, flankers like Chanel does?
Wow, sounds fantastic. Enter me, please!
I adore magnolia so would love to try this. Please enter me in the drawing! As far as updating/getting new customers for houses–I think EL does a good job. The limited edition summer Bronze Goddess or the Pleasures Exotic sort of things are easy to wear and definitely can appeal to a younger audience and draw in new customers. Once there’s some brand loyalty, they might venture into the more “adult” and more expensive options with the Private Collection fragrances. At the same time, the more mature fragrances retain their older customers, so there’s something for everyone. Flankers seem hit and miss. I mean, unless someone was already a fan of Chanel No. 5, she probably wouldn’t try the flanker because she might assume it smelled really similar.
As a mid-thirties gal, I have to say that I do struggle with the whole issue of what smells too ‘old’ or grown-up for me. Oddly enough, what I think of as a classic ‘old-lady’ scent isn’t all that old–Clinique’s AE. One whiff, and I’m back at my childhood synagogue, surrounded by old ladies with German accents, wearing their good coats and pearls. Chanel No. 5 does the same thing, as do many of the classic aldehydes.
I don’t disdain old ladies at all, but sometimes this category of perfume does feel hard to wear–it gives me a sense of being ten years old, dressing up in my mom’s fancy clothes.
I love Bois des Iles and Chanel No. 19, both of which feel classic to me without being too ‘old’. I’m struggling with No. 22, which I find incredibly lovely, but rather old-fashioned and powdery. I would be a total sucker for a slightly updated flanker of that. (Also, I’m sure that someone in my childhood wore No. 22. Can’t figure out who.)
I can’t deal with Cuir de Russie. Whatever it’s going for doesn’t click in my head, or on my skin. All I keep thinking is “this baby needs a bath”.
OK, this is about my life with Chanel, not perfume flankers! Signing off…
Hi Patty – would love to try this. Please include me in the draw. Thanks!
As to reformulated classics – can’t say I’ve had much experience with classics to know whether or not the reformulated versions are better or worse! There is ONE scent, though, that I wore in the early 80’s that I LOVED – Rive Gauche. My original bottle is long gone, but I recently purchased the reformulated version directly from YSL. No, it’s not the same scent, but it is definitely related. Makes me pine for the original. But I’m happy with this one, too.
Makes me wonder. If the “reformulated” version of a scent was actually the “original” and then the original came later as “reformulated” version, would we prefer the first? Do we dislike a reformulated version just because it’s not the original we fell in love with? I tend to think so.
Is a reformulated version ever BETTER than the original??? Or are we so devoted to the original that it’s impossible to see and appreciate a “new” version?
One thing I would like to see done more often is active promotion of the classics. So often they are hidden under the counter or not stocked at all, only available if you know to ask for them. And then the companies discontinue them due to poor sales…! While I’m alright with flankers like EP, Eau Verte, etc. in order to boost the currency of the original brand, I wish they’d think of creating new campaigns around the classics as well. Chanel still promotes no. 5, I know, but that’s unusual, but many other gorgeous scents might well become popular again if they were marketed correctly. Apres l’Ondee perhaps? Not so alien to modern tastes.
Tried this the other day and really liked it. Well worth a sniff!! Please enter me!
I used to wear Christalle when I was younger, and I would love to try this fragrance. Please enter me in the draw. thanks..
please enter me in the drawing
Please do count me in the drawing if it’s not too late. I’d love to try this – the original Cristalle doesn’t do it for me. I’ve tried several times, but it always reminds me of the ladies who came to play bridge at our house when I was growing up who (it seemed to me, anyway) reeked of smoke and perfume and wore too much makeup. It’s not a horrible association, but not positive either. I guess I do prefer clean and fresh, even though not the typical Clean-type perfumes.
Eeg. sorry about my horrid typing!
I adored the original Cristalle, which I wore in my late teens/early twenties. A few years ago, I tried some on in Istanbul airport and was horrified, so I am assuming it has been reformulated.
My advice to the venerable perfume houses is to stop lsiting to their marketing execs so much and have some faith in the qualitis that established themselves as great perfumers in the first place. Guerlain, caron, Chanel, Dior, etc should reintroduce orginal formulations to new audiences (getting as close as they can to the original recipe without breaching EU regs, of course). I, for example, was not a vintage frag fan until i got a whiff of some of the fabulous, quirky and often shameless originals, such as Guerlain Jasmin and Fleur de Feu (what I wouldn’t give for a bottle each of these little lambs). Many of these smell as fresh and modern as anything many of the trendier niche producers are flogging.
Flankers are all fine and good as light summer riffs on the original, but are no solace for all the doctored version of my old faves out there. Sigh.
Nothing to say about reformulations or Mon Precious Mondo. But, my goodness, I’ll take that anniversary collection instead (check “other items”!). I don’t know why they aren’t selling those bottles individually–it would up the buyers dramatically and make more money. But maybe the original seller can’t bear to break up the collection? Would love to see what they still have at home. Hard times, hard times…
I tried a tester of the Cristalle EV, before reviews starting appearing on the blogosphere, and quite liked it. Color me shocked when the gang disliked it or felt very ‘meh’. Yours is the only positive review I’ve seen (although I think Robin thought it was well-done, too.) I like magnolia a lot, and icy lemon and/or sourness is fine by me, but perhaps most importantly, I’ve never been a huge fan of the original. I *admire* it, without warming to it. As you know, I love me a chypre, but Cristalle always seemed too sharp in the opening for me. I didn’t wear it on skin much, which is maybe where I failed. The Eau Verte is not the most interesting scent I’ve ever tried, but I thought it was a high quality scent that just smells good, and that’s all I need some times.
I wore Cristalle for quite a few years when I was in my late 20s. There was something very addicting about the fragrance to me. I am not sure why I stopped wearing it. It may be because I fell in love with EL Private Collection which I wore through most of my 30s. I would love to try this new version. Thank you.
Please enter me into the drawing. Thanks!
I’d love to try this. Please count me in.
I, too, have had the most trouble with the reformulations by Guerlain. I had a bit of Mitsouko parfum for quite a while, loved it, ordered more, and HATED it. I put it on once in a while thinking maybe it will morph into something resembling the old, but no success. I have the same trouble with Shalimar; the new formulation, not Shalimar Lite, is so much sharper without the lovely drydown. And L’heure Bleue is just a dry, sour, soapy mess on me! Maybe I should try different strengths. Please enter me in the drawing!
I love the original Cristalle, please enter me into the drawing.
Tried the new Cristalle today, by coincidence just after reading your review! I think you were very kind to it, I didn’t care for it. I wore Cristalle (the original) back when I was a teen. I loved its chill, it’s strangeness, and its real galbanum! The new one is “pretty”, “nice”, “safe”, and not a bit cold, unless you count the icy fake lemon opening, that all the 2009 releases seem to have, is this a new IFRA requirement??
I like my perfumes to say something distinctive, and this one just says, “huh?”
Huh. I’ll try it when it rolls around here, although like you, what I love about Cristalle EDT is its … Cristalle-ness. 😉
I haven’t really had the chance to smell the original Cristalle at all carefully, just a quick whiff at the store after too much other smelling. Still, the Eau Verte sounds interesting, so sign me up.
I think Chanel is doing the right thing by keeping the classics close to their original version and making “modern” variations. If Coco Mademoiselle’s high sales help keep Coco itself available, that’s ok with me… just don’t make me buy it. Guerlain’s AA line seems less successful at this, since their connection with the older tradition is not made clear. And YSL… a lot of stealth reformulation going on there, I hear.
As to the Guerlain Nectar… sheesh, not for me. I’m not sure I approve of artificially created scarcity, as in “we’re only making 63 of these”. Real collector’s items become such by earning it, not by being scarce from the git-go.
When it comes to green anything, I’m the total existentialist – I’ll try it once. Maybe, it is to be hoped, it will make me a pervert? 😉 So what the hey – I’ll quite happily give Eau Verte a whirl on the skin for a while. I wasn’t impressed by the juice in the bottle, but if anyone knows, it would be you – you never know!
Eau Premiere is gorgeous – a no. 5 I can actually wear, as opposed to the original, which smells fab on my brunette sister, and horrid on strawberry-blonde me.
Guerlain, I hate to say, has let me down – they did something to Jicky, the very first actual perfume I ever owned (at 14, I was ahead), but then, it was a downhill slide.
Dior – I’m looking at you. You murdered Miss Dior, yes you did, and didn’t even bother to bury the body! Miss Dior was my second bottle, and how glorious it was, too – and then, and then..
And then, you had to make it all mass market for the lollipop brigade! Argh!
Not only that, but if anyone knows where I can get my hands on my all-time favorite Dior, which is Dioressence (glorious, glorious stuff!), let me know. Can’t find it for love or money anywhere. I was told by a snooty SA in Copenhagen that it had been (delicate sniff) “discontinued”.
I am not at all happy about all these reformulations and new regulations. I love oakmoss, oh, yes, I do, and nothing will ever be quite the same again, alas.
On the other hand, at the risk of sounding even more like an idiot, I recently went out and nearly bankrupted myself on Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. It’s the smell of summer and happy and drop-dead gorgeous, which is precisely how I feel when I wear it, and even the hubby agrees. That’s the idea, right?
Not to smell like this year’s version of lollipops and musky juicy fruit.
Email me at popcarts@gmail.com — I have several small vintage bottles and partial bottles of extrait, and would be willing to part with one of ’em if you’re interested.
And yes, I agree, they killed Miss Dior dead-dead-dead in the bedroom with a bludgeon.
Carter – check your mail – and thank you – for making my day!
“women in their 20s – not all of them – don’t want to smell of aldehydes and oakmoss” – What’s wrong with them?!?
Alas, I’m firmly in the classics and don’t mess with the classics camp, but I AM trying to appreciate some of the newer ‘fumes. Not with all that much luck yet, I might add.
Short attention spans, I think, and the fact that here in America we don’t know from jolie liade. I remember being a teenager and stealing my mother’s bottle of Jolie Madame extrait; I had worn White Shoulders up to that point, and the JM was a revelation. I struggled with it though, because of the depth and complication of it relative to what I had experienced previously, and the leather was a challenge for me at the tender age of sixteen. Now I find it the easiest and loveliest thing on the planet and reach for it as a wallpaper scent — it’s my default to this day. But it wasn’t head-over-heels love at first sniff, and perhaps growing up on sweet, over-perfumed products that smell like so-called fresh laundry, ocean surf, and putting greens and puppy’s breath, not to mention Febreeze (kill me now) will do that to a young nose and make its owner a bit (or a lot) lazy and perhaps even afraid.
Um, *laide*, which apparently I need to do more often 😉
I haven’t yet tried this Cristalle yet, but will set things right this weekend on that one.
I agree with Denyse on EP-it is a modern take on a classic, not a “replacement” and was my gateway into #5-but thanks be that Chanel preserved the “regular” line, albeit with some reforms along the way. My vintage edc is by far the best, though I like the modern parfum.
As for reformulations, I’m just a old fart-I nearly always prefer the originals. I have various concentrations of Mitsouko from 1920 or so on-and each is altered in some way. All are lovely, including the big-shouldered patch-y PdT…until the post-2000 changes. I find it nearly completely destroyed. Sorry Carter-I can only wear the old Bandit, what a stunning monster she is. And Vent Vert, and Rive Gauche, and Dioressence. Time to shut up.
I do think that a few flankers work. I don’t love Paris, but several of it’s sidekicks are very nice. YSL, while messing up badly with the original Opium (but still keeping it in its lineup), has done nicely by its summer flankers. They retain the Opium core, with a nice lighter twist.
Interesting! I am no expert on Mitsy, but I did find myself agreeing with Dr. Turin when he said that he could barely detect any difference at all between the post-2000 batch he had and the earlier incarnations. If I wore it more often and did a head-to-head comparison I might understand what you’re smelling, but so far it’s all good. As for the Bandit, I find the new stuff (edp, is what I have, I believe) to be much less linear than the vintage and while I have it, I don’t wear it because I much prefer the older versions and have quarts of it at this point, but I do think that it was very respectfully reimagined and quite well done. To me, it’s like the difference between Costes Room Spray and regular Costes — oddly, I prefer the drier, less lush room spray — but the relationship between the two is similar and both are excellent.
I wish perfume companies would stick to the original formulations of things (as long as it does not require something endangered like Mysore Sandalwood, or anything requiring the death of an animal) and then release flankers if they want to update things.
I haven’t really smelled many redone things, although I’ve worn Mitsouko EDP and am still happy with the current version. (I don’t like the EDT, and have read bloggers saying that the EDP is probably the best of the current formulations.)
Hi! So curious about this. Cristalle turns on my skin so I kind of gave up on it, but often when I write off a category I end up missing out on a perfume I ultimately end up loving down the road–please enter me in the draw for a sample! Thanks!
1/ Mon Précieux Nectar: I actually own some (dregs of a tester) and to all ends and purposes it’s like an extrait version of L’Instant Magic Elixir, so I never thought it was worth the expense.
2/ I wish I were getting something nicer from Cristalle Eau Verte, but I can’t get past that sour-oily lemon note.
3/ N°5 Eau Première is the best modernization of a classic in my opinion. Which is NOT the same as a reformulation. Speaking of which:
4/ Chanel’s really doing it right by keeping the classics while offering a version new enough to qualify as a new perfume, but that fulfills the same function. Which isn’t the case for, say, Miss Dior vs Miss Dior Chérie.
Now as for what perfume companies should do… I know what they SHOULD have done: fight over-regulation on materials, at least until there are good replacements for them. Dior’s been doing the best job in stealth-ruining their classics. I’m still kind of annoyed at Guerlain going all over the map but if it keeps their classics alive, well… I’m for it. I don’t do the Aqua Allegorias but that was a smart idea.
On the point of modernization vs. reformulation, using the example of Miss Dior, there have been both, correct? Miss Dior has been reformulated, many would say badly (although as I said above, I wouldn’t call it unwearable) while Miss Dior Cherie is a different fragrance (modernized). The original has not been preserved, in that Miss Dior’s reformulation is significantly different from its original state?
I agree with both you and Patty about the Diors. While I don’t find the reformulations unwearable, I long for the classics. I do understand that many people would find the originals too difficult to wear. It took me some time to appreciate them when I was first learning to wear classic fragrances.
Correct. Miss Dior has been spayed. And Miss Dior Chérie is an entirely different thing.
First I have to say that that Mon Precieux fontaine-set thingy looks like some kind of kinky apparatus that I don’t want to know nor speak any more about. But I dropped you a note, so let’s see what happens.
As for Cristalle: I need to try this new one and have been eager to do so (so yes, put me in the draw, please), but I also recently got some vintage EdT that I really need to spend more time with because it hasn’t bowled me over yet even though so much about it should be right up my alley. I’d say I also qualify as the type of old “lady” who can appreciate the merits of both. As I was reading what you wrote about this, P., I keep thinking of all the things I’ve read about that EL White Moss thing.
Oh, and if *I* were a perfume company? No frickin’ clue. I’d have ulcers on top of ulcers trying to figure out a business model for these crazy times.
I’m a die-hard Ernest Beaux fan so give me No. 5, No. 22, Bois des Iles, Cuir de Russie. And overall, I am happy with the reformulations done by Chanel – I have found little difference so far and they seem to have been particularly attentive to retaining the quality of the parfum strength. But I would love to see them make the parfum strengths more accessible – please let me spend my $$ on Cuir de Russie parfum if I want!! And the same for Guerlain – please make some of the scents more accessible – even at least by mail in the States from their flagship NY store/salon – isn’t there one in a hotel or something?
The ‘green’ Chanel’s don’t seem to do well on me – not sure why – and despite being a long-time chypre fan (my pre-perfumista gateway perfumes were Chanel No. 5, Paloma Picasso & Lancome’s Magie Noire), Cristalle for sure doesn’t do well on me. Same with No. 19. Is there a big difference between the EDT and EDP in these two?? But would love to try this new one! And you all have taught me to keep trying so I will have to try the original Cristalle again.
Vintage hag that I yam, if the old Chanels, Carons, Guerlains, Patous and Dior smell of old ladies, I say that we old ladies have it all over the sweet young things. Sorry, kiddies, but I have to laugh every time I see a comment on Luckyscent or wherever saying “Ewww, old lady smell!” because it’s just about the best indication there is that the frag has legs. Chanel No. 5 gets that cringe-worthy crack a lot and I end up alternately amused by the naivete of the writer and feeling sorry for her.
Funnily enough, two of the greatest perfumes ever made, Bandit and Mitsouko, have had two of the best reformulations. Not nearly as great as the originals, but quite nice in their own right. Bandit’s baby sis, on the other hand (and I know that March disagrees with me on this) to my nose is a tragedy, and the truth is that I’m having a difficult time narrowing down the bad ones that come instantly to mind to only a handful — there are just too many, and it’s just too sad.
As for a business model, Patty, you are asking the wrong old lady, so I’ll leave it to others to educate me on that point.
Ooops, make that “Bandit’s baby sis, Jolie Madame”. True, I may be senile, but I smell DAMN good 😉
Someone on NST the other day shared a great comeback about “old lady scents”. She said she replied to that comment by saying the “old ladies” smelled great when they were young, and they stayed loyal through the years to these great perfumes, which had become classics. I loved it!
They had faces then 😉
Hello Patty!!! I love Chanels and this one seems interesting, I would love to try it. I also like what Chanel is doing. Keeping their classics (even with reformulation), adding alternatives for new perfumistas, and having their Exclusifs now available on-line. The men’s fragrances are pretty good too.
Patty I LOVE, LOVE the greens and the original Cristalle – pls inlcude me in the draw. And I am with you Melanie on Miss Dior – the original is gorgeous – has it been reformulated? No doubt it has. Have not tried it for years. Miss Dior Cherie – yucchh and that new Chloe – eeekk!!
I just bought the Cristalle eau Verte a week ago. It was love at first sniff for me. I’m a huge fan of No. 19 in parfum, edt, and edp (maybe my favorite incarnation of No. 19), so this was in the similar green family for me. I never really liked original Cristalle, but I’m not sure which one I sniffed, edt or edp.
In a perfect world, the vintage classics would always be available in their original, un-reformulated versions for those of us who love the classics, the chypres, the aldehyes, etc. and then the perfume houses could occasionally release more modern scents, not flankers, but maybe like how Luca Turin said in his book that Guerlain’s AA line is kinda a beginner perfumista line? (paraphrasing him there)Like perfume with training wheels to get their noses trained before moving on to the more challenging stuff. 🙂
1000 ML? Wow, that’s a couple of days worth of Diet Coke, that’s like a few years worth of cologne. Having written that I would like to try..
I haven’t smelled the original Cristalle. I’m not a fan of the Dior Poison variations. Sign me up for the draw please! Thanks Ladies!
Hmm….
Cristalle always made me melancholy, to the point of tears – so I would LOVE to try this new approach (perhaps it will cause me to run, sobbing, from the room! 😀
From my somewhat limited classics-to-reformulation/reinvention experience I would have to say that Rochas Femme has done the best job. The current iteration is the love of my life after Miss Mitsouko parfum/edp and is different enough that it can hold its own against the vintages I’ve tried (though I adore them also. They have a captivating, vicious little twist that is just so yummy)
The worst? That new Chloe, I think. Or the dreck that is passing as Coty Emeraude – that new stuff can blister the paint off yer trailer!
xoxoxo >-)
I’m with you on Femme. Love both versions. But stay away from my trailer with your dern Emeraude!
The current version of Emeraude is just saaaaaaad. I have been snapping up 70’s PdT bottles on ebay right and left, though, so I’m stocked up on what could be the perfume love of MY life.
It is sweeeet, innit? Vintage Emeraude perfume is the Elixir of Fabulousness – I can’t imagine how they could’ve ruined it so completely! I found a never-used perfume in an antique mall for $3 – nearly fainted with delight.
Of course, that very same antique mall housed a bottle of Liu – and I found out that the seller had POURED OUT the juice ! I nearly fainted with horror.
Whole lotta faintin’ going on at the antique mall!
xo >-)
GASP!!!! poured OUT the Liu??? I’m speechless.
Femme, femme, femme – I actually prefer the new version but then I’m a cuminophile.
the current Femme is……..well, let’s just say I have to be careful where and when I wear it, as it gives me ideas…
😉
xo >-)
p.s. Those Guerlains on Ebay are have me flabbergasted, gobsmacked even. Wow. I particularly love the Mitsouko for $6000.Comes with jade and pearl bracelets – just like a McHappy Meal 😉
I’m a perfume newbie, but long-time marketing/pr gal. I think that tampering with classics, from a branding perspective, is pretty risky. Sometimes I think perfume companies would be better off spending that money on keeping the quality high and avoiding reformulations that alienate their faithful followers.
I like the approach Guerlain has taken with the Aqua Allegoria line. They created something to appeal to new audiences, but hey, while they’re trying out the new “fresh” fragrances, they just might just try and fall in love with one of the old classics that might have otherwise been dismissed as old fashioned or too heavy or serious for them. Sort of like a gateway perfume.
Oh, and I’d love to be in the draw.
I’m with you on Miss Dior!! *Love*the old version. Also, L’interdit, reformulation was a huge disappointment to most. I’m definitely interested in trying the Cristalle Eau Verte, though; cool and green sounds good to me, especially with this muggy August we’re having.
thanks for the scoop on this “new” Chanel. I was at Nordstrom’s this past weekend, asked for a sample of Chanel No. 19 which they very nicely gave me, and then managed to loose it somewhere between the store and home. They didn’t say anything about a new version of Cristalle, but I will check it out. Part of the name “eau verte” sounds cool and green, very tempting since north of Boston has had hot sticky weather this past week. And if you would like to send me a sample, I won’t say no.
To answer your question about updating old classics — I like the old Miss Dior; don’t care for the Miss Dior Cherie they came out with a few years ago. It smells too much like bubble gum and sweet candy to me. Of course, Chandler Burr says the old Miss Dior, which supposedly hasn’t been reformulated, (but do you believe that?) is unwearable these days, too much like a beaver’s armpit, or something like that. I still wear it and nobody has run me out of the town. Maybe they’re just being polite. But anyway, I’m sticking with the classics. So there.
Melanie, the number of things that Chandler Burr has pronounced “unwearable nowadays” would clear out half of our perfume cupboards if we took all his g*d@mn advice. Sorry… that “unwearable” thing he has going gets me in a huff. You go right ahead and keep wearing Miss Dior; plenty of us will be happy to have you sit by us. 😀
Well, I’ll huff right along with you. Reformulation has certainly de-clawed quite a few classics, and I would count Miss Dior among them. But it still surpasses some of the crapola that is cranked out on a daily basis and sold to the general public.
Oh, this one is on my must-must-must have list. I know a lot of reviewers haven’t had good things to say, but they keep looking for a new interpretation of Cristalle, rather than a new perfume entirely (like your review has indicated).
How does it compare to other gardenias out there?
I sort of like flankers or new interpretations of the originals– though I’m not really into the classics. I like to wear two interpretations of the same perfume at the same time (Ex: Edp vs Edt of Kelly Caleche). It helps me really get to ~deep~ into the perfume.
I am ashamed to say I never smelled the original. But a “green magnolia” sounds really fresh to me. Easy to wear? That is right up my alley, certain older scents give me headache. Would love to try a sample, thanks!