Chanel No 5 L'Eau

I remember being 13 and seeing the Gisel Bundchen ad for the original chanel n5 edp. I was obsessed immediately, and became set on smelling it. It was when I went on a day trip to a coastal town with my family on boxing day, that I finally managed to get to a sephora. I very shyly sprayed it on my wrist and immediately thought ‘oh noooo’ because it was definitely a departure from what I was used to (my perfume at the time being Rose by Zara). Although I knew I couldn’t live out my dream of having the most iconic perfume in the world as my signature scent, I did keep sniffing my wrist and enjoyed the smell while it lasted. Cut to, 3 years later, I’m out shopping with my friend I spot the marketing for the Chanel n5 l’eau launch. I got pretty excited, and scuttled over to give it a sniff. I was totally transported back to that day in Biarritz by the n5 dna. It was the first time a perfume had really had that effect on me. It smelled so familiar. And this one, I knew I could pull off. I used samples of it from sephora for a while and then eventually stopped after Glossier You came out and instantly became the only perfume I wore for the next 5 years. Cut to, this year. I stumbled across a cheap bottle of it online and bought it. I still think this is masterful. I’ll admit that for the price, it could stick around longer than it does. I do think it’s the style of scent that you can go nose blind to though, because people around me have mentioned it a few times when I’ve not been able to detect it at all. The comparisons to mall soap and body spray are fair enough if you’re used to stronger more perfume-y scents. I strongly disagree though. There’s no real way of understanding this perfume. It’s really its own thing, you can read the notes but personally i can’t really smell them individually. It’s definitely got the chanel n5 in it but it’s soooo so clean and wearable. It doesn’t smell old fashioned. I’ve seen alot of people find it a shame to take the EDP and turn it into something palatable for the younger generations. I don’t know, call me a heathen but I think that stance is a bit puritanical. The associations people have with the original is bagage I don’t want my perfume to carry, despite appreciating it for what it is. I still love the dna though and am stoked to be able to wear it. There is absolutely a market for this fragrance. It smells modern to me, in a niche way. It’s sort of a skin scent in that it really melds with your chemistry to creating something slightly musky, powdery but with the aldehydes and citrus cutting through and brightening it up. I don’t get very strong florals from it on myself. I will say, layering this with Glossier You amplifies both fragrances beautifully and I get alottt of compliments when I wear them together.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a beginner in your perfume discovery journey is testing a lot of perfumes at once. This way your nose gets tired and your attention is all over the place. This is how I almost missed one of my favourite scents to date and my current signature. The first time I tested No 5 L’Eau was in a Chanel boutique after I’ve basically smelled the entire designer and exclusif line. Of course it smelled very similar to the original No 5 (watered down) and of course it smelled almost identical to Eau Premiere. It was years ago and my nose was still untrained so, to me, the whole No 5 DNA was mono-thematic; all about soap! And it wasn’t particularly alluring to my nose either. It smelled like an old bar of soap. I couldn’t believe it and thought all of that advertisement (Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Denueve, Nicole Kidman, Gisele Bundchen) was a bunch of nonsense. A few years passed and I started growing into my womanhood. I was more sure of my choices, even perfume wise, I no longer asked or cared if other people enjoyed my scent...all it mattered was how it made me feel. So naturally, after becoming more experienced (I still have a lot to learn) in my perfume journey, I started going back to a few classics to see how I felt after all this time. And... I was speechless! No 5 (vintage, edt, eau premiere and l’eau) was to my surprise the kind of DNA I loved. I discovered I loved the classics (from many other brands too) just like I love my classic literature. “Now I get it”, I’ve thought. If you think you’ve written off a scent (especially one that is considered iconic or a masterpiece) please do yourself a favour and go back to it at least once or twice after 3-5 years and see how you feel. You might be surprised... Chanel No 5 L’Eau is a luxurious bubble bath in Paris while drinking champagne. You then put on your expensive lotions and wear your silk robe. You smell like a woman that has places to go now. I find L’eau the most comfortable interpretation on No 5. Soft soft soft ☁️ 🫧 🦢 Only downside is the performance that is more like an eau de cologne and needs reapplying every few hours. When I think of the No 5 DNA now I still don’t think of an overly sensual woman like Marilyn Monroe but a quieter, more romantic, classy, regal beauty like Grace Kelly. If Chanel ever decided to fix the performance issue, I’d make this my life’s signature. Until then, I’ll bath in it, thank you very much!

I encountered Chanel No. 5 L’Eau in that most transient of places—the duty-free at Munich’s airport, a cathedral of transience, all gleaming bottles and restless souls. Barcelona awaited, a city of summer swelter, and I, ever the hopeful traveler, spritzed a paper strip on a whim, tucked it into my handbag without another thought. But then—the plane. The Alps below, a jagged dream of ice and shadow, and suddenly, a fragrance so exquisite it seemed to drift from some celestial source. I turned, half-convinced it must belong to the woman across the aisle, or perhaps the stewardess with her starched cuffs and practiced smile. But no—the air around me was empty of such elegance. And then, the revelation: my own bag, my own forgotten treasure. I opened it with the reverence of a pilgrim uncovering a relic, and there it was—the scent, all along, had been mine. Barcelona, dear Barcelona—how I wanted to love you. But the heat clung like a fever, thick and suffocating, and I counted the hours until the south of France, where my family waited with promises of cooler breezes, of air one could breathe without tasting salt and asphalt. And when at last I arrived—ah, relief. The Provençal light, the lavender-scented evenings. Only then did I dare revisit that paper strip, its magic undimmed. I have never been one for citrus—too sharp, too insistent. But this? This was different. A whisper, not a shout. A balm for nausea, for the oppressive weight of summer. Press your wrist to your nose, inhale deeply—vanilla, yes, and musk, but also something elusive, a ghost of Trésor, perhaps, or the memory of my mother, a woman of Chanel, of understated grace. And so here is the paradox: it is Chanel No. 5, and yet it is not. It is something new, something alive. Love at first spray—fickle, perhaps, but undeniable.

I remember when this came out, I fell head over heels for this scent. I had more recently helped my brother buy his fiancee a bottle of Eau Premiere, which is another one I had my eyes on, but felt strange having the same signature scent as my future sister-in-law, so when I saved up enough, I went for this one instead. The had the 35 mL at Sephora, which was perfect for me. I'm still obsessed with this. I know at the time people were really angry about this scent, saying it was just water, that it didn't have any of the original No 5 DNA, but I disagree. It's super cleaned up and lightened, yes, but as a No 5 lover, I love that scent profile in all of its forms. L'eau is so airy yet PRESENT. I've had people been able to smell this on me 8+ hours later, which I didn't expect from this type of perfume. I love the atomizer on this one, the pressurized release so you're really in a cloud of this fluffy, aldehydic, sweet ylang scented, citrusy, powdery, No 5 musk. I love it. I bought this when I felt too young to wear the original No 5. Now I'm in my 30s and I own a bottle of the EDT, and it doesn't feel as overwhelming to me as it used to. I thank you, L'eau, for being my gateway to becoming a lady. Maybe in the next decade I'll feel ready for the EDP!

Absolutely beautiful. I bought this recently for an outstandingly low price won in an eBay auction someones unwanted Christmas present. I was so surprised after reading the reviews of it being so Citrus and sparkling and also quite weak that l couldn't really smell the Citrus top notes. It went straight to its floral notes and powder on me as soon as it touched my skin and the strength of 1 spray on my hand was outstanding it was stronger than 6 sprays of no 5 EDP. As l sat at my computer typing at work, l could smell this clean powdery floral waft it was delicious sometimes floral powdery notes can get a bit sickly but this is so clean and soapy powdery its divine. This is my second favourite of the numbered Chanel Fragrances. Chanel no 19 getting the top spot, and Chanel no 5 coming in 3rd. l like the clear colourless fluid its very chic and minimalist looking, but l also dislike the clear fluid too because when the bottle is full it looks like an empty bottle of perfume standing on your dresser. You feel compelled to waste a load by spraying liberally just so you can see the liquid line. I love this perfume its gorgeous. I give this a 7.5/10