N° 5
Parfum, Chanel (1921)

Chanel N 5 in splash EDP or Parfum vintage formulations can have an unexpectedly bright hit of lemon and bergamot. Leaning in to smell that note, I was startled by a sudden mental image of crystals forming in time lapse photography speed. This is a very 3-d perfume, as attested in the many comments on its "sparkling" and "abstract" qualities. It is as if the base, heart, and head notes created a pyramid from which we swoop up the total scent composition--in pyramid shape. So many basenote: sandalwood, cedarwood, oakmoss, vetiver, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, civet, and ambergris, for a broad platform. A more discrete line up of heart notes with jasmine, may rose, ylang ylang, iris, and lily of the valley. And then an arrowhead array of just aldehydes and agrumes on top. The vintage version with the crystalline pyramid effect I am reviewing here does not have great longevity. It serves as a reminder that with a complex perfume that has been a bestseller for a century, different bottles may present a particular exemplarity of the scent.

If there's one word that's been used and abused well outside of its wheelhouse over the last decade or so, it's "iconic". Sorry, kids, but Carolina Herrera's dreck in a stiletto-shaped bottle isn't iconic, nor is Marvel's Star-of-the-Minute during a particularly sassy press conference, nor is Olivia Rodrigo's latest mid-tempo diary entry, nor is whichever Hadid sister is in the news this week. The Golden Gate Bridge is iconic. Michelangelo's Pietà is iconic. The Martini is iconic. Marilyn Monroe is iconic. And, yes, Chanel No. 5, the perfume that irrevocably changed the fragrance industry, inspired thousands of imitators at every price point, and set billions of hearts ablaze - and counting! - is iconic. Whether you like it or not, whether you think it smells gorgeously lush or old-fashioned and musty (which version are you smelling, exactly, and how well has it been kept?), it's essential for any scent lover to be familiar with the one perfume that almost everyone on Earth can name. No. 5 is a bright, sparkling, abstract, silky, soapy, powdery, flowery, woody, sunlit, and musky marvel, and contains quite literally the highest-quality jasmine and rose in the world, grown *specifically for it*. Can you smell the difference? If, like me, you've spent 15ish years dicking around with other, lesser fragrant specimens before finally laying a nose on this beauty, yes. You can. The rose jumps out right away, as sonorous and heartbreakingly beautiful as a soprano solo. The jasmine is a violin that somehow turns into a cello halfway through the heart, running its hand along your arm, giving you goosebumps. The musk hums along, clean but decidedly un-cheap; the civet peeks out at odd intervals, reminding you that No. 5 is a proper perfume, meant to be worn on skin, wafting deliciously from warm flesh. Yes, No. 5 extrait is expensive. It's also, like the Pietà, a work of art. But you can't wear the Pietà.

To ChatGPT:

Coco's Puffs are still
Solid gold Fortran, even
Without -NO2.

To Self:

Your high-school girlfriend
Who wore this to the drive-in
Was out of your league.

To Coco:

The significance
Of 5 is likely part of
The simulation.

To Jacques:

The square root of 5
Tall in her youthful splendor
Never forgotten.

To Olivier:

You proved that 5 yields
Upon further division
A further beauty.

YES indeedy I must admit my penchant for the older vintages of this monumental fragrance, more musks (natural+nitro) and better quality absolutes &essences were used back then although I recently purchased a 30 ml. flacon of the parfum to touch base with modernity and the accumulated changes to the formula over recent decades, also I have a nagging feeling that this presentation in parfum form may be heading for discontinuation, as stated just my own gut opinion on the matter, Heaven forbid... I own so many flacons & bottles of No.5 I've honestly lost count over the last 20 to 30 years, most are still sealed and kept in cool storage, my heart always skips a beat when needs must to crack open a bottle it's almost sacrilege to cut that black pearl cotton cord and the clean removal of the onion skin (bauderuche) one favorite bottle in my collection is a sealed MM 203 flask (90 ml.?) from the fifties, looks very musty and dark, aficionados of No.5 know exactly of my musings on this historical period of No.5's production, finally CHANEL No.5 is not my ~numero uno~ go to of fragrance but one that I have held dear over so, so many years.... Congratulations & Thank's Madame Coco for a century of fragrant souvenirs & memories!!!

I’m partial to the extrait, which I think has one of the best drydowns in the history of perfumery. My favorite time to wear it is in December, around the holidays.

I was also able to procure a vintage bottle recently, which is slightly darker and more animalic, less bright and sweet, and has a much stronger, more discernible ‘base’. I would still buy and wear the current extrait, but the vintage is a lovely experience.

Did NOT like this as a teen wearing clouds of Love's Rain, relative of Baby Soft. Decided to try it in my more, um, "mature" age. It is pleasant, and I now appreciate the skill and balance of scents that has made it famous, still doesn't feel like "me".