Forever Krystle Charles of the Ritz for women

There was a time in the 80s when I thought this and Lauder’s Beautiful were the most amazing scents that money could buy. Fast forward to a couple of months ago when I found myself riding a wave of nostalgia and purchasing a vintage bottle of Forever Krystle on eBay. For those of you who don’t know, this perfume was named after the character Krystle Carrington, played by the lovely Linda Evans in the supersoap that was Dynasty.

Rather than be transported back to the 80s I found myself surprised at just how linear this is. It has almost no depth at all. It just seems like amber, a bit of musk and some vanilla. It doesn’t really evolve at all and just becomes a weaker version of itself as the day wears on. But it does last a long time and I could smell it while I was outing my clothes in the washing machine.

What did strike me is the quality of the packaging and the bottle. The glass is really thick and it sprays nicely. I’m somewhat dismayed that even the high end perfumes now use plastic stoppers instead of glass, and are lighter in weight than they used to be. The presentation is very high for what was then a fragrance available at K-Mart.

I also have to say that I’ve seen some recent interviews with Linda Evans and I’m equally dismayed that she has ventured into cosmetic surgery with not entirely successful results. It actually upset me a bit. She was so gorgeous in the 80’s - a true icon of fashion and beauty at the time. Maybe you just had to be there.

I recently discovered an interview she did with Rachael Ray. They had a perfume challenge for Linda to see if she could pick Forever Krytstle from a range of other celebrity scents. For the results of Linda and the Great Perfume Sniff Off, search YouTube for the following title: Linda Evans TV Appearance Part 2

As far as I can remember this was the first really popular celebrity perfume(I think Zsa Zsa Gabor's "Zig Zag" in 1949 was the first ever) and it set the standard for celebrity perfumes: kind of bland, no particularly distinguishable notes except a large amount of vanilla and loud. I love loud perfumes(it hurts my feelings when people pick on Tabu!)but this is too loud even for me. That said it holds up quite well for an 80's fume. It seems to have suffered the fate that most celebrity perfumes suffer: when the celebrity becomes passe, so does the perfume. It smells better than many that have outlasted it.

"My darling Krystle, I've had this fragrance created especially for you. I think it's as beautiful as you are. Every time you wear it, remember: I love you forever."

Imagine my excitement when I found a new bottle of this at a local pharmacy that also had a full display of Max Factor makeup from the seventies. I inquired about it and the pharmacist said that it had been sitting there since 1986...a year before I was born. He thought I was crazy when I bought it, but how could I not? I'm a huge Dynasty fan, and already have the nightmarish Linda Evans Rejuvenique facial toning system displayed proudly on my bookshelf.

It's about what I expected, meaning 80's drugstore, meaning still better than most of what is released for higher prices today. It's similar to Vanderbilt in that it's a loud, powdery vanilla rose, but what I like is the extreme muskiness of it. The composition feels to be about 50% musk, and a slightly foetid musk that they might not use anymore- it's certainly not detergent-like or clean-smelling at all.
Yes, it's gauche and cheap, but this is in keeping with the woman it's named after. I love that, before Liz Taylor kicked off the celebrity perfume trend, this fragrance based on a FICTIONAL SOAP OPERA CHARACTER was released and garnered a faithful fan base. The commercial for it is a masterpiece of cheesecloth and syrupy sentiment. Now to seek out its male counterpart, Carrington- I bet it's grim! Anyone know about the Joan Collins one put out by Revlon, called Scoundrel?

Incidentally, Krystle has much better taste on the show; it is mentioned several times that she wears Bal a Versailles, and at one point Alexis lures Blake to Rome, "bathed in Bal a Versailles," as she says, to seduce him away from Krystle.

CELEBRATE THE LOVE THAT LIVES FOREVER.

I have recently bought this scent and I absolutely adore it. It has replaced everything else that I have as the scent that I wear. I am so very mad keen about it.

I was too young to have known it when it was launched in 1984 but, I really must say that this scent is so fabulous. It is not like all of the scents in the shops today that are so repetitive and stuck in an unappealing spot of candy and fruity smells. This is a warm musky floral, and it does smell luxurious, sophisticated and sexy. Not at all sickly sweet or candy like, and unmistakably feminine, nothing androgynous with this scent.

I have a specialty shop for scent where I live and I bought it there. I have also now bought it on ebay.

I wore this in college! What a flashback. If I remember correctly (and this was MANY, MANY years ago, it had a warm, ambery, musky floral scent. I loved it.

I just bought some off of ebay. There was more there too. I used to wear it years ago too and then I forgot about it. Good luck finding it.

I just came across a vintage splash bottle of this in EdT form. I must admit that it seems to have suffered oxidation, and I fear the bergamot note has lost some of its freshness. After a few seconds of the 'alcohol' note, a heart of plasticky vanilla rose atop a synthetic resin comes through. The musk makes an appearance after about 15 minutes. I do not see vanilla in the notes, but I am sure it is there. The scent is fairly simple, and linear in nature. Not a complex or symphonic perf. I can see where it would be well-loved by those who wore it, "Forever Krystle" has good and identifiable sillage and longevity. This is most certainly a drugstore frag by nature (many of which I love!), even if it was sold in department stores.

I wore Krystle for 24 years and am so sad not to be able to get it anymore.
But,hey,Sweetlady, I just smelled a new perfume in a magazine. It is called Halle, and I put it on my hand and it reminds me strongly of Krystle! I will have to get some and try it.

Help. I was going to try and look this up by the fragrance notes. But it seems to be giving me every fragrance with ONE of the notes I chose. Would there be a way I could find fragrances that contain ALL 4 of the notes I am looking for? (mimose, musk, bergamot and rose)

I used to wear this fragrance long ago. Just before Christmas I remembered it, but I couldn't recall the name. Finally I remembered the name. I have scoured many perfume sites trying to find it, but it is no longer available. Does anyone else remember this scent? Do you know of anything else like it?
In the mean time I have purchased many other new scents which (most of them) I love!
Can I say how much I LOVE this site?!?!?! It is FANTASTIC! So much information. I've been looking for a site with descriptions and reviews. I could read this stuff for days.
Thank you for the great website.
(I think I'm addicted to fragrances)