How Green was my Saturday

By Tom This week I decided I was not going to review anything from ScentBar or any of the rest of the usual suspects. I went to Longs Drugs thinking I'd go slumming, only to find the fragrances under lock and key. I cruised through Sephora and smelled several of the new Eaux des forgettables, ones whose names I don't even remember so incredibly self-effacing they were. Then I cruised through Bloomingdales, where I stopped at the Chanel counter. If you are of a certain age and from the preppy East, if you are female you at one point wore Cristalle. If you're a man you knew women who did. Marina wrote of it as "perfect white dress of a scent" and it is; it's clear and cool with refulgent greenness that's as lovely as a spring day. It has a sly sillage that begs one to approach and bask in its glory. It's just a touch too girly for me (memories are hard to break), but I think it needs to be rediscovered. The last stop was at the request of my friend, to Kiehl's store on Robertson, where she bought one of their excellent lotions and I tried the new "Forest Rain". It also opens green, with a piney soapiness that would be perfectly acceptable in a floor cleaner or car freshener, but is less alluring in an actual cologne. Like floor cleaner, that "Rainforest Fresh" accord has pit-bull tenacity, just less subtle. Luckily after four hours you're out of the woods as it were and free to try something else. Cristalle is $70 for 2 ounces at Neiman Marcus, etc. Forest Rain is $38.50 for 1.5 ounces anywhere Kiehl's is sold Image source, stainedglassnews.co.uk.