Forever Krystle, Revisited - Beauty Addict

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Forever Krystle, Revisited

Does anyone remember Forever Krystle? This scent was truly ahead of its time. In an era when the only name in "celebrity fragrance" was Elizabeth Taylor, this was a perfume based on a fictional nighttime soap character. That's right...Krystle Carrington, oil queen extraordinaire from Dynasty, had her very own fragrance.

And this powdery, floral scent is what I most associate with my grandmother's bathroom in the '80s. But not in a bad way! I promise! Gram has always had good taste in fragrance, and other things, too - Ralph Lauren Safari and Lancome Tresor are among her other scent picks, and even at 90, her hair is always perfect and her outfits always coordinate. (Here's a picture of the two of us at her 90th birthday this summer!)

And, honestly, even for an early celebrity perfume, Forever Krystle was pretty well done.

The reason I bring it up today is that I recently sampled Jo Malone's latest, Vanilla & Anise, at my local Neiman's, and was instantly whisked back to days playing with Gram's Krystle powder puff in, say, 1988.

The opening is somewhat citrusy, but when it dries down, Vanilla & Anise has that same warm-but-powdery feel of Forever Krystle (especially the Krystle body powder, which I remember fondly). It's definitely more modern, though, and has a warmer vanilla base than the heady florals that seemed to dominate Krystle.

Vanilla & Anise is entirely too powdery for me, and not really my taste, but hey, I can now cross Gram off my Christmas list! Jo Malone's latest is an updated, modern version of her old favorite. And any 90-year old woman who rocks Jo Malone in her powder room is a beauty icon, at least in my eyes. Merry early Christmas, Gram!


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