… herzlichen Dank für alle Eure schönen Worte -, ich freu‘ mich sehr über die Zustimmung zu meinem Bild vom sanft aldehydrauschenden, fruchtblumig-feinen alten Wässerchen … ;) …. (by IrisNobile)

.. unsere liebe BeJot kam auf die zauberhafte Idee, mein damaliges Statement zu diesem Duft mit ihrer wundervollen Schriftkunst ins Bild einfließen zu lassen. - So entstand dieses Bild erneut :) - Ich fühle mich sehr geehrt liebe Barbara -, und das Ergebnis finde ich wunderbar! 🥰 (by IrisNobile)

N°5 Chanel 1921 Eau de Cologne

8.9 / 10 66 Ratings

A popular perfume by Chanel for women, released in 1921. The scent is floral-powdery. The production was apparently discontinued.
Pronunciation Compare

Main accords

Floral

Powdery

Earthy

Chypre

Animal

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aldehydes

Bergamot

Lemon

Neroli

Ylang-ylang

Heart Notes

Iris

Jasmine

Lily of the valley Rose

Rose

Violet root

Base Notes

Musk

Civet

Patchouli

Sandalwood Amber

Amber

Oakmoss

Vanilla

Vetiver

Perfumer

Ernest Beaux

Ratings

Scent

8.966 Ratings

Longevity

7.647 Ratings

Sillage

7.046 Ratings

Bottle

8.153 Ratings

Submitted by Lilau · last update on 01/10/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

N°5 Eau de Toilette

N°5 Parfum

Calèche Eau de Toilette

Coromandel Eau de Toilette

Tabac Original Eau de Cologne

Reviews

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

06/19/2014

9Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

MasterLi
376 Reviews

MasterLi

Helpful Review 2

Devastatingly beautiful...

This is something which should be preserved forever as an example of pure joy and beauty. An iconic fragrance. I am male, but I have huge respect for this beautiful piece of art. I my self have worn Shalimar in Eau de Cologne concentration, and I actually can't stop myself wearing something so beautiful and timeless as this. It wasn't such a big step for me as I used to love the floral aldehyde feel of "Tabac" by Maurer & Wirtz. Except the later had a prominent tobacco vibe.

The Eau de Cologne is vintage and generally much stronger than the modern formulation. That being said, the floral aspects of it are to die for, and the projection & sillage are astounding.

In short, I just want to say... I think every woman should smell like this at least once in her life. Please, enough with the countless generic teen florals etc. When you get tired of them, and want men to treat you like the lady that you are, you can't make a better statement than this. Timeless.

04/12/2015

8Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Josch
31 Reviews

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Josch

Top Review 22

The Time Lapse

In front of me is a 100ml splash bottle of Chanel N°5. In the old EdC version. Still three-quarters full, hardly darkened. Nevertheless, at least 25 years old, maybe even 30 or 40 years old. The label has already yellowed, and the formerly rectangular edges are partly rounded off.

An aging-related varnish smell that affects the top note dissipates after about 20 minutes and allows - as if through a transparent curtain - a glimpse of the heart and base notes.

I know and appreciate the N°5 perfume and the current EdT. In comparison, I would describe the three versions with these images:

The perfume shows the fully ripe fresh bouquet of flowers, which reaches its maximum, still sun-warm fragrance intensity with jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, and violet root.

The EdT mixes in noticeably more robust tones of woody sandalwood and earthy vetiver to the now several days old bouquet of flowers - the bouquet is still fresh, but shows a slightly more autumnal character. It has not necessarily lost its freshness, but the brightness of the colors is somewhat muted. The opulence of the flowers recedes to the extent that the green-brown components of amber, sandalwood, and vetiver gain more presence.

With the EdC, a light gray veil has settled over the whole picture. The colors are not only muted in their brightness but also broken. The bright red has turned into a dark velvet red, white has become beige, and green has turned into olive green. The scent still clearly reminds of jasmine, lily of the valley, rose, and violet root, but in a version that is already dried and wilted. Earthy components like patchouli and musk dominate the scent progression much earlier and more equally in the picture.

A wonderful, slightly morbid scent that is probably rarely preserved in its original splendor today. Nevertheless, still desirable - even if a vintage EdT likely holds greater chances of offering an unrestricted view of the original.

08/27/2021

10Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

LadyViolet
31 Reviews

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LadyViolet

Top Review 17

The Enlightenment Came in London

Chanel N°5 has always been for me the Eau de Toilette version of my grandmother. I found it flowery and old-fashioned as a child in the 70s.
During my perfume workshop at 4160Tuesdays, I had the opportunity to explore the Vintage Vault. And there we were able to discover the Eau de Cologne version. That was a real enlightenment. Not flowery and old-fashioned at all! That’s how the legendary number 5 should be: The bottle was from the late 40s, the scent perfectly preserved, Mademoiselle Chanel's spirit was among us.
She probably spoke to me too, but I was so intoxicated that I can't remember exactly :)
Barely back from London, I organized 2 bottles, you never know...
The EdC is significantly less flowery than the EdT, less sweet but drier, more aldehydic. More Roaring 20s than demure 50s. More jersey dress than Dior corset. And thus resolutely modern, timeless, and elegant.
Subsequently, for comparison purposes, I also had to get the Vintage Extrait version, purely for scientific comparison, of course...
The Extrait is, of course, also a dream, but closer to the body. The EdC has more sillage, shoulder pads in a way. Otherwise, they are very similar, as they are not as flowery as the EdT.
Overall, the wearer - or the wearer - should be close to aldehydes and not allergic to white flowers, as a floral base cannot be denied, although it is processed in a modern way.
One of my Holy Grails, to return to the diction of the present and end the trance state!

06/28/2018

10Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Gelis
328 Reviews

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Gelis

Very helpful Review 8

I feel comfortable with No 5

Dear Angelliese has allowed me to try the long-discontinued EdC of my signature scent. I sincerely thank you.

To put it simply: The EdC also convinces me completely and confirms Chanel's No 5 as my signature scent, even though I wear it less frequently due to impending nose blindness.

Like the vintage EdT and the perfume, the EdC is overall more robust than the modern versions of No 5. The former seem somehow denser "woven," the fragrance notes blend together more quickly. Of course, there is a progression: aldehydic-soapy-floral-warm-slightly spicy. However, it unfolds more quickly, providing more of an overall impression. (See my comparison comment on the EdP).

New for me with the EdC is an impression of licorice after about 1 hour. Really just an impression that comes and goes, but recognizable to me. It could be the addition of violet root... And I was surprised by the mention of patchouli in the above fragrance pyramid. I initially wanted to dismiss it with a shake of my head, as it clearly lacks that chocolaty, dark, earthy note. But then I recalled Lehmann's "Singapore Patchouly," which is also a rather light, slightly floral patchouli, and thought, it could be. Perhaps the patchouli used in those times (20s, 30s) was lighter, more floral? And last but not least, a rather green finish is new to me with the EdC. I perceive vetiver most clearly at the end; it may be that oakmoss supports this. I cannot recognize musk and civet, both of which are also not listed in the other versions, although I must admit I have no idea what civet smells like.

I was impressed by the longevity of the EdC. With up to 7 hours, it is comparable to a modern EdT.

Conclusion: Apart from the completely new No 5 versions (Première and L'Eau), I always feel comfortable with No 5.

Updated on 12/29/2024

08/14/2023

10Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Sirbennyone
513 Reviews

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Sirbennyone

Very helpful Review 10

In memory of you, my beloved great-grandmother... / Chanel's masterpiece / and personal opinion

Hello everyone,

Today's review is perhaps one of the most sentimental for me and is truly filled with emotions, as I want to talk about a fragrance that one person always (and only this one!) wore... and has been gone for almost 20 years..., I want to discuss the signature scent of my great-grandmother, N°5 Eau de Cologne.

According to my grandfather, my great-grandmother wore it since roughly 1970, and since she was professionally in Paris several times a year, she bought nearly 5 bottles of the fragrance every year (no joke!).

Surely, one might wonder why one needs so much? And yes, I understand this..., my probable "fragrance obsession" I inherited from her, but she did things I have never done until now...

She would spray clothing (not white) with it, hang them in the closet (tops + pants), and items she rarely wore, like special blazers or evening dresses, would get a refresh of N°5 Eau de Cologne after xx weeks...

The entire apartment, the furniture, the cushions, the sofa, everything smelled of it, and that’s why this fragrance will always be deeply embedded in me...

Recently, thanks to a lovely lady here from the souk, I had the chance to get a small sample, because it actually hasn’t been available (in that concentration since 1990)...! And when the day came and it arrived, I immediately went to the AZ, grabbed a fragrance strip and go.... sprayed it on... and what happened... I cried like a baby....

The scent instantly catapulted me back to her living room, to my childhood -_- ...., yet I am grateful for this experience, because today I perceive it differently than back then and perhaps I will understand more why she cherished the fragrance so much...

(And if anyone has a remaining old EDC bottle - please get in touch!)

The fragrance:

How should I aptly describe the masterpiece... : Synthetic (due to aldehydes, of course), floral, classic, creamy, clean, and typically Chanel. In my personal opinion, almost every DD from Chanel builds upon this truly classic DD. Guerlain and Xerjoff (in the Stonelabel series) work with it almost 1:1 (small examples of fragrance notes include rose, iris, sandalwood, musk, amber, vanilla, and patchouli).

I also believe that soon there would be no fragrances from the house like, for example, Coromandel Eau de Toilette, because it is indeed the foundation for that.

Chanel's masterpiece:

Chanel has generally created something with the No.5 line (thanks to COCO) that has shaped the fragrance industry, and if the "legend" is to be believed, with the 5 fragrance strips, where the perfumer back then said 1 - 4 were great, but COCO took number 5 on principle, hence the name..., then I am not sure if the hobby we have would exist in this form...

The fragrance was and is the greatest stroke of genius that CHANEL has ever released, and in my opinion, no fragrance will ever sell like it (it is almost 102 years old!)...

Personal opinion:

Due to my history, I cannot make a perfect statement, but I can make this one without bias. If a fragrance (now in a different concentration than back then from EDC to EDP) has existed for over 100 years (!), then it is worth testing. In my eyes, alongside Shalimar Extrait, it is one of the (2) fragrances that one must have tested! Because then, in my opinion, one will truly understand + possibly appreciate more what people created back then...

Thank you for your time and thank you, my beloved great-grandmother (Dora)...

If I truly weren't convinced, I wouldn't recommend it to you!

And now, have a nice day/evening or whenever you read this review, best regards, Benny
_______