Jo's Scent Notes: Fabbrica della Musa Cristallo Bianco
Have you ever loved and lost a fragrance? I have – almost too many times to mention. But one of my most-mourned, discontinued fragrances was something that Cartier made in the 1990s, by the name of So Pretty. I wore it devotedly till it disappeared without trace, and I missed it… right up until I smelled Cristallo Bianco.
It comes from Fabbrica della Musa, a fabulous fragrance house founded by a fascinating nose, Hamid Merati-Kashani, with his wife Barbara Adelmann. I met them both last year and was intrigued by Hamid’s Iranian-German roots, which explain his German accent. This gifted perfumer has a slew of fabled fragrances under his belt, notably lots for Parfums de Marly (Pegasus, Althaïr, Layton), Silky Woods for Goldfield & Banks, and Kayali’s Oudgasm (yes, you read that right) collection.
Hamid’s own Fabbrica della Musa creations I was already a fan of – you can smell them in Liberty – but from first spritz, this was something else. Literal time-travel in a bottle, right back to my ‘So Pretty’ days. Whoosh. Just like that. Time travel. I have been looking for something to fill the hole left by that Cartier scent, in my wardrobe – and now I’ve found it.
It can beinteresting to try to unravel why a fragrance grabs you. Very often, it is indeed because it’s something that reminds you of something else you love. In reality, we tend to have fairly narrow scent preferences, generally being drawn to fragrances within one or two families. Maybe you like one fresh fragrance; you’re probably going to like lots of others. Ditto, florals. Or maybe dark, mysterious, opulent ‘amber’ fragrances. Chances are, you’ll like others with the same vibe.
So, what I discovered was that there are distinct similarities between the notes in Cristallo Bianco and So Pretty, if I peer under the bonnet. (Something I’m sure Hamid was completely unaware of.) Cristallo Bianco offers white peach, orange and pear, giving a real luminosity and sunlit brightness – the ‘white crystal’ alluded to in the name. Via a bit of Googling, I established that So Pretty, meanwhile, had peach, mandarin and bergamot – so, distinct echoes, there.
In the heart, So Pretty apparently blossomed with rose, jasmine, iris and lily of the valley – and although Cristallo Bianco has a quite different bouquet of blooms – magnolia and jasmine, layered over fig leaf – the impression is the same: petal-soft.
Even the base notes have the same feel: powdery, woody, silky and snuggly. (They share sandalwood, which gives a sort of skin-scent intimacy on the skin.) So, the two fragrances not only have a sunlit sparkle in common – but a warmth, akin to shrugging on a pashmina round your shoulders, as sun sets.
This new favourite isn’t a direct clone of my lost love. Actually, Cristallo Bianco is more up-to-date, very wearable for 2026 (I think the Carter scent would be a bit ‘massive shoulderpads’, today). But it has the same spirit of optimism, elegance… and dare I say, is just so, so pretty, with it?
In other words, make yourself right at home on my dressing table, Cristallo Bianco.
£195 for 100ml eau de parfum – buy here
