N°5 Chanel 1921 Parfum

Bottle Design Jean Helleau

Ranked 48 in Women's Perfume

7.5 / 10 1010 Ratings

N°5 (Parfum) is a popular perfume by Chanel for women and was released in 1921. The scent is floral-powdery. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
Pronunciation

Main accords

Floral

Powdery

Synthetic

Sweet

Spicy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aldehydes

Bergamot

Lemon

Neroli

Heart Notes

Grasse jasmine

Iris

Lily of the valley

May rose

Base Notes

Sandalwood

Vanilla

Amber

Vetiver

Perfumer

Ernest Beaux

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.51010 Ratings

Longevity

8.4731 Ratings

Sillage

7.9692 Ratings

Bottle

8.5720 Ratings

Value for money

7.1229 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 15.04.2024.

Reviews

32 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/19/2020

10
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

Can777
121 Reviews

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Can777

Top Review 84

What she always wanted to say...

Who actually said I was old? I know I'm not the youngest anymore. But who cares? In my time I was young too, and I can always be new. Even for you! My way does not suit every woman or man, I am well aware of that. I am a bit brittle, but does that bother me? Certainly not! When I appear, the air is electrified. Aldehydes sparkle around me like a firework of electricity. A tingling like a slightly pretentious giggle. That's the way I am My skin may no longer be the most beautiful, but it's more than handsome and very well cared for. It still is! It is soft and waxy and white like jasmine in full bloom. I know you hate jasmine,...others not necessarily I have been told! And who actually said that lilies of the valley are cute? I love them and smell of them, but I am not cute. And anyway, who wants to be cute? Not me for sure! The little make-up I wear consists only of iris powder and a little lipstick. But even this has already made you moan. But I've never needed much to look better than some women. I have always been able to show off the beauty in me very skilfully. And look at that,... it worked! As for my passion, you have always underestimated me. I am not the sexual cure for you. And I never will be! My passion doesn't burn like a fire. Oh, no! My passion burns like an eternal candle in the darkness. My light is creamy soft like sandalwood and warming like resinous smoky amber. But the candle is now also extinguished for you. All that remains for you now, is fine smoke of delicate vetiver and the memory. You have never really understood me and probably never will. You have always lacked maturity. So much for that!

And before I forget...!
I didn't get this old for nothing. I've seen a lot of things since I was born. I've seen many come and go. But I've stayed, and I think I'll be around forever. Interesting,... isn't it? And believe me, I was and still am loved, Maybe not necessarily by you, but by so many other people. And over and over again. You've asked me so many times what I really am? I came to tell you now... complicated! Get used to it,... female beings are like that!
Chanel N°5

The most courageous action is still to think for yourself. Loud - Coco Chanel -

04/25/2018

8
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Serenissima
608 Reviews

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Serenissima

Top Review 35

Mademoiselle Coco and the smell of love

"I don't do fashion, I am fashion."
In 1919 Tout Paris wears the designs of Gabrielle Chanel; better known as "Coco".
This woman was as uncompromising in matters of style and fashion as she was in love.
When my beloved "Boy" Capel dies in a car accident on the Côte d'Azur (he drove his fast sports car much too fast of course), she sinks into mourning.
She even has her bedroom painted black!
Their first (desperate) attempt to return to life is not very successful. Her liaison with the composer Igor Stravinsky is not what really helps; quite quickly their paths part.
Étienne Balsan, a friend of both, succeeds in keeping them alive for a longer period of time with the help of the legacy of her lover: "Boy" wanted to develop a spectacular fragrance together with Coco.

Not only does she want to commemorate her great love with a fragrance, but she also wants to create a perfume for the modern independent woman.
In the search for the right fragrance, Coco also met Dimitri Romanow, a Russian grand duke in exile. Through him, with whom she shares the feeling of being lost, she was inspired by the perfume of the legendary Czarina Catherine the Great.
But one day, almost unbelievably for her, she can open herself up to love again and her inspiration returns: Coco Chanel gets on the trail of this fragrance, which is still the most successful perfume in the world today - "Chanel N° 5".
(Source: "Mademoiselle Coco and the Scent of Love" novel by Michelle Marly , published as an advanced paperback, 2018.)

The charm of this perfume has accompanied me since my earliest youth; my knowledge in this fragrant world was not very great either The statement alone (whispered only behind a whispered hand) that Marilyn Monroe wore only a touch of "Chanel N° 5" at night probably put the final dot on the "I".
At that time she was an icon and the breath of the slightly wicked still surrounded her.
Only later did I ask myself: Did these two really fit together?
Had Coco Chanel thought of this type of woman as the bearer of her fragrance; would she have liked it?
And if Ms. Monroe, had she not, had she not been allowed to grow older, had she not one day discovered the allure of a seductive nightdress for herself? We won't know
Yves Saint Laurent is known to have dedicated his legendary fragrance "Opium" to the great lady Catherine Deneuve. This fascinating woman remained a loyal friend to both YSL and his love Pierre Bergé throughout their lives.
We don't know anything similar about Coco Chanel; we only know that she created an everlasting monument to her great love "Boy" Arthur Capel with this fragrance.

This fascinating fragrance composition greets you with the lively spraying of aldehydes; this is accompanied by the lovely charm of neroli, the freshness of lemons and the slightly musty bergamot scent.
It is a walk through a southern fruit-rich garden; thus an ideal start.
The heart note brings together everything that is important in the world of flowers: the elegant iris, the strongly earthy-scented lily of the valley (as we all know, this is where minds part!), the intoxicating aroma of the large-flowered white jasmine (often referred to as stinky in comments here) and the king of everything: the full-bloomed, fragrant rose!
Each one of these beauties gives its best here; a full-bodied, noble fragrance marries with the radiant freshness of the Entrées.
Amber, vetiver and sandalwood in a subtle blend, together with the rich, erotic warmth of vanilla, provide a base that seems to be exactly what this fragrance needs to be a complete success.

Sillage and durability are exceptional; even after hours, an abandoned room testifies to the presence of the wearer of this fragrance.
However, more than two ladies surrounding themselves with "Chanel N° 5" are sufficient for a spacious ballroom. Also here the dose makes the scent.

As a younger woman and also later testing this fragrance on me again and again, I used to regularly declare: "One day I will be old enough to wear "Chanel N° 5". When I then put on the pearl necklace with a classic twinset and carefully coiffed grey hair, the right time will have come."
In the meantime I am an older woman; the hair will never become noble grey - a mixture of street dog blonde with underpants grey and a touch of white knows how to prevent this.
I wore classic twinsets in the office (because the door to the long corridor had to be open all the time; the reception was not occupied); pearls actually fit me quite well as well.
Only with "Chanel N° 5" it won't work: we both don't harmonize with each other at all.

I like this scent, but I feel disguised with it So unfortunately I cannot pay tribute to this great love celebrated with this fragrance!

All the more reason why I will enjoy reading the above mentioned novel and follow Coco Chanel's aberrations through love and life with interest.

10/18/2018

4
Scent

HumanNature1
8 Reviews

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HumanNature1

Top Review 27

One bottle long carried

I'm not writing long, not much, here (but I've been reading enthusiastically for some time) and would describe myself as an untrained nose for smelling essences and therefore also as a perfume for laymen. But that's not the reason for being a perfume philistine. My personal preferences lie in the 70s, 80s and 90s, when perfumes, regardless of personal preferences and tastes, really still had a high recognition value. Even fragrances from lower price categories I often feel more beautiful and better in retrospect than some of today's "little waters" for which you should also impudently spend a lot of money.

Yes, I clearly belong to the "mourners" who are constantly mourning for fragrances that are no longer available for purchase. Yeah, and I'm always on ebay hunting for vintage minis. Mind you, Minis. Normal fillings, which are often offered at horrendous prices, are too high a risk for me, which my wallet would take very badly if the dream fragrance is tilted.

But, sorry to all lovers of Chanel No 5, this has never been there during my hunt.

"One bottle long," I used it. An autumn and winter in 2003/2004.
Actually, in retrospect, but at that time at least almost in my mid 40s, not really convinced either and perhaps even carrying a cloud behind me that was unbearable for others.
Was it my job in one of the most conservative industries that exist to date ?
Because that's what I associate with Chanel No. 5, "disguised" conformity. People who reveal nothing, absolutely nothing of their personality.

Yes, with the smell of Chanel No 5 I have the idea of an absolutely opaque, at least to the outside of any emotion, immune woman.
No joy, no sadness, no passion, no exhilaration, no sexiness, no playfulness, no casualness, no charm and no esprit.

Chanel No 5 expresses for me the absolute "Contenance". The absolute in the negative sense. For a woman who in the most positive case, perhaps at least on her deathbed, recognizes that she has made mistakes in her life and missed something. To be authentic and not only adapted and following conventions.

A currently still living woman would be Queen Elizabeth, who would occur to me to Chanel No 5.

One criterion meets Chanel No 5 in any case. A criterion which is also so important to me with my love for vintage fragrances. Chanel No 5 is unmistakable.

But for me in the memory meanwhile as horribly unmistakable.

Sorry for all fans of this classic fragrance.
But I personally can not understand the hype and also the longevity of this fragrance.

Whereby also I love smells, which are taken up surely into the hate list by others.

L'Eau de Monteil by Monteil is for me personally, for example, a scent from the aquatic direction, which many find quite terrible. And I personally love him.

Fragrance preferences can be so different. And I find that exciting and great.

05/13/2021

10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

Tabla
17 Reviews

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Tabla

Top Review 36

....if you listen you can hear it call...

....sie had been able to save the boy and herself at the last moment onto the wooden raft that was to take them away from Indian territory. On the river, this otherwise in life failed singer and barmaid, proved to be incredibly fearless and courageous and she stood and the rudder as she steered the raft through the perilous rapids downstream....

Matt Calder, the boy's father thought little of her, even though she had saved his son. Kay was just a barmaid and singer.... so not a respectable woman, as a man in the Midwest thought to marry. And now Kay is back, as she always was, sitting on the counter in the saloon and singing...

Marilyn Monroe, in the role of Kay, from Otto Preminger's Western, "River of no Return" (German title: Fluss ohne Wiederkehr) sings with an incredible vibrato full of restrained eroticism in her voice, the song of the river of no return......... There is a River called the River of no Return.... sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes wild and free...

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Many years ago I was maid of honor at a dear friend's wedding and she asked me to maybe pick out some music for her civil ceremony. Among other songs, I had Marilyn's song "River of no Return" played when the couple exchanged rings. The registrar was so enraptured that she also specifically congratulated them on the music after the ceremony and said that after all the other ironic pop warbling, she had rarely heard a more fitting song for a wedding ceremony.

N°5 remains immortally linked with Marilyn Monroe, of course. At the latest with her bon mot that she wore nothing in bed, except Chanel N°5. ....oh..... how shocking in the eternally prudish America of the sixties, where a decent American woman went to bed with a long-sleeved nightgown buttoned up to the neck..... Anyone who knows anything about film also knows that this outstanding actress, throughout her life often underestimated and reduced by many to the silly sexy blonde. No matter....

In principle, about Chanel N°5 has already been said everything up and down.
So I will limit myself only to the fact that I appreciate the perfume because it embodies the essence of everything that one has to imagine under a classic, floral powdery aldehyde perfume. Chanel N°5 is for me the epitome of unadulterated feminine beauty, fearlessness and therefore wearable in all moments of life. It is not the great perfume for the great moment, but rather one what always enchants me the normal everyday life. It is still important to mention that my evaluation refers to a vintage Chanel from the seventies.

Coco Chanel designed the fragrance for women who want to stand in real life, as she once did. At a time when women fremdbestimmt and ranked in better circles as a trophy of well-situated husbands, she drew as a pioneer a modern image of women. For example, she threw the constricting corsets in the garbage and designed pleasantly wearable dresses with which women could indulge in sporting activities and still look good. And no, these women do not remain alone, they also join forces with a man, but more likely with one who is ready to master the rapids of life together.

Many young parfumas are often little surprised at the first sniff, because it reminds of mom, grandma or favorite great aunt. Which is often also the reason that they classify the fragrance as old-fashioned.... never mind. It will happen to them once similarly, when they themselves have matured and later the daughter or granddaughter sniff "Sweet Like Candy" by Ariana Grande and find the stale...

Well and how does the story of Kay end? Only so much... the last shot, the last image of the film is terrific. Kay's sequined, red pumps land in the sand on Mainstreet......
I've always imagined whether Kay might have later regretted throwing away those great shoes back then...
But maybe you guys will check out the strip when you get a chance.
My rating refers to a vintage extra from the seventies.

07/16/2018

Ypsilon
2 Reviews

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Ypsilon

Less helpful Review 10

Ahoy instead of Chanel No 5

Dear people here, I am very amused about all these serious reviews of Chanel No 5, probably the most famous perfume so far. I got to know it (as an adult) by smelling something and... i was looking for the kid to hold a glass of soda under my nose. I mean this sherbet powder that was dissolved in water and bubbled so well. One notices, I am already over 60. Anyway, the head, heart and base note of Chanel No 5 is just this for me: Effervescent. It doesn't smell bad, but it's not a perfume fragrance. And if everyone had a nose like mine, this perfume would have been a giant breeze and not the bomb for decades. That's what I wanted to tell you. Good thing tastes are different!

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