Chanel No 5 Parfum

*weeping tears of joy* Every time I open my bottle of No 5 extrait, I am never quite prepared for its exquisite beauty. Simply beguiling. Chanel have made their range of extraits an experience to be had, from holding the glass flacon in your palm feeling it’s cool surfaces and clean cut edges, opening the seal, twisting the stopper to release the breathtaking aroma, with this in particular... the beauty that is No 5 Parfum. Pure artistry. This fragrance has a unique and unforgettable character. Elegant and sensual without being distant, aloof, dirty, slutty or exuding over the top decadence. It is also familiar, a comfort, serene and peaceful. I wear it sometimes for bed, or I dab some on pulse points before or after prayer and meditation, it helps relax me and instils calm within me. It helps me to sleep but also gives me the experience of quiet luxury. She doesn’t scream nor shout. She doesn’t need to. The parfum wears close to the skin but sings for hours and hours. This fragrance is truly timeless and can be worn for many an occasion, a masterpiece that stands the test of time. A fresh out of the shower, damp hair in a towel, robe on for hours while you pamper and self care... or your wedding... or a walk in nature. No 5 parfum is awe-inspiring, versatile and perfection. My first encounter with this fragrance was totally by chance when a lady I purchased a vintage COCO extrait from sent me a partial bottle for free with the package. Yup, free! She explained it was her late mother-in-law’s, preserved properly and well loved but she was more of a Dior girl herself so was selling all the Chanel she had left behind. I’m not kidding I opened it and gasped, there was a stare into space for around 10 seconds before my next whiff. “Where on Earth have you been? Or where have I been?” I would just scroll by this on eBay or walk past it in the boutiques and stores like Selfridges. I don’t know why. Probably a pre-misconception that No 5 smelt musty and dated. My Mom always preferred No 5 EDP on others but hated it on herself so I steered away from ever smelling any of the No 5 line. I’m a COCO girl, so is Mom. The EDP is the 80s iteration of the parfum, the same vein runs through but it is No 5 parfum with shoulder pads and huge hairspray laquered hair, however still unequivocally No 5. I have the vintage EDT from around 70’s, the Jasmine has turned very indolic and there’s almost a honeyed element to the florals in this, the top note citruses seem to almost evaporated but it’s still heavenly nonetheless, I wear this to bed a lot. I haven’t tried the newer formulation of the EDT. But still, No 5 parfum in its current formulation is still exquisite and smells incredible despite ingredients changing and real civet being substituted for synthetic over time. I haven’t yet got my nose on the signature scent of Marilyn Monroe, the EDC either. My husband has always had a very positive reaction every time I wear the parfum, the dry down is delicious and the opening to mid notes are just a wonderful journey. The beauty of No 5 resembles, to me, the flickering and glow of a candle on a chilly evening... where the snow has fallen outside. The notes dancing and flickering to and fro with one another, like the flame — from warm to cold. There is an airy chill to this but it is ever so cosy at the same time. A juxtaposition of notes, a paradox of a perfume. A glorious creation by Ernest Beaux. One I will always, always love.

Perfume has always fascinated me as the perfect intersection of art and science, and as such you'd think No. 5 perfume would've been one of my first purchases when I became an adult. However, despite being (or perhaps because I am) a child of the 70's/80's, I prefer green, citrusy scents and unisex fourgere and cologne fragrances to floral scents, and haven't worn anything with a powdery note since I was 12. Having gotten a sample in the 80's when my mom worked in Hecht's women's department, I associated No. 5 with an almost alcoholic opening and powdery floral dry-down that kept me away for decades. Back around 2009, reading through "Perfumes The Guide", I was surprised to read how different the various incarnations of Chanel No. 5 were formulated, and I resolved one day to revisit the fragrance. Today is the day. My precious .25 bottle arrived an hour ago, and like many others here, I'm shocked how different - favorably - the perfume is from the EDT and EDP (which is what I realize now my mom must've brought home in the mid-80's when it was first released vs. the perfume). It is stunning. It definitely has a powder/iris note, but it keeps changing on my skin in a way that's fascinating me. For me, the scent I get whiffs of is not even the same as when I put my nose close up to my wrist - and while the top notes I wish would persist even a bit longer, I'm enjoying the dry-down, with the citrus and amber and vanilla coming and going, popping up and disappearing. (ETA: 3 hours in, the scent is hitting the base notes, but it's surprisingly different from what I expected and again in a positive way. Sitting very close on the skin now, still periodic flashes of citrus, and the musk is showing itself to be a lovely refined one, melded with the amber and vanilla beautifully. The civet and oakmoss and patchouli feel like the "underpainting" (base layer) of color you apply before painting a picture, that gives tonality and contrast to the final painting you apply on top - you can't see (smell) them, but you know they're there.) I've also ordered a small vintage bottle that hasn't arrived yet, as a comparison. I know the top notes won't likely be intact, but very curious to experience the dry-down which most people seem to agree stays true to form in vintage samples. It's not something that's going to be a go-to for me 'personal scent', but anyone who thinks they don't "get" the appeal of No. 5 and appreciates the art of perfumery should have at least the smallest bottle, just to appreciate the art of the possible. Note: I was surprised to see so many people say "unisex" in the polls above - but then as I hit the base notes, I asked my husband to take a sniff at the 3 hours mark, and he said "woody". I love seeing all the guys on here wearing this phenomenal fragrance, and I can 100% see men wearing this and smelling fantastic... I'm guessing the vintage stuff even moreso.

If this perfume did not have aldehydes, the only No 5 this one would smell like would be the 1921 EDT of No 5, because the EDT and PARFUM are the only ones that contain a noticeable amount of musk/civet in omparrison and contrast to the other No 5 fragrances. The EDP is MUCH more related to Eau Premiere than any other No 5. As I do not smell the musk. If anything, the No 5 EDP has the bright and fizzy citrus effect that Eau Premiere has when you compare the EDP to the EDT or Parfum compares to No 5 So basically, in order to give a visual of what I am trying to say, I say this: 1921 Parfum: Is the No 5 all of the other No 5's are trying to smell like and resemble. Parfum is very heavy with aldehydes, powdery notes, and musk to the point where I believe those are the only true notes I ever detect in the actual pure perfume version. 1921 EDT: Is the No 5 that smells closest to the Parfum where you are able to get the powdery, musky, and aldehydic smell. The main difference is that there is a small burst of "clean and fresh" but NOTHING like in any of the later versions. If anything, the burst of freshness would be more accurately described as sparkling powdery notes, as you never really smell citrus standing out like you do in the later flankers. 1980s EDP: Is the No 5 that smells like a total revision of the Parfum and EDT. Just like the Parfum and EDT, you are able to smell aldehydes and powdery notes, but I don't get the musk/civet accord the same way I do in the originals. In fact, the EDP seemingly dries down with MORE powdery notes, but the musk is so light, you never truly ever get to say that you "for sure" smell musk, because it is disguised in powdery notes. 2015 Premiere: Is the No 5 that is yet another total revision of No 5, but this one is totally based on the 1980s version. You NEVER detect musk or civet. Where you just have powder, powder, and more powder with the 1980s EDP, you have fizzy, sparkling powdery notes in this one. If you can imagine taking the most premium lemon-lime soda in the world, chilling it down to near freezing, and then being able to crazk it open on the hottest of all days and being able to enjoy it..... Well, the way that icy, cold soda would taste on your parched tongue on that hot, summer day, is the same way No 5 Eau Premiere smells to me, as it is the most beautiful, and fizzy, version of No 5 I have ever smelled. No 5 L'eau is barely related to even Eau Premiere. Even though it is refreshing and beautiful, it isn't fizzy like Eau Premiere. It is more just black and white citrus and aldehydes with no powder.

2022 extrait formulation. (Cue Elton John's "I'm Still Standing".) If there's one word that's been used and abused well outside its wheelhouse lately, 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 sassy press conference, nor is Olivia Rodrigo's latest midtempo diary entry, nor is whichever Hadid sister is in the news this week. The Eiffel Tower 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 millions 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?), we should all be familiar with the one perfume that almost everyone on Earth can name. Chanel No. 5 parfum is a marvel. Sparkling, silky, soapy, powdery, flowery, woody, sunlit, musky. It contains literally the highest-quality jasmine and rose in the world, *grown specifically for it*. Can you smell the difference? If, like me, you spent a decade and a half dicking around with 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 well-heeled jasmine is a violin that somehow turns into a cello halfway through the heart, running its hand along your arm, giving you goosebumps. The sandalwood hums a beguiling bass note, with velvety iris and musk adding texture; 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. And yet the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. Its abstract complexity makes No. 5 smell slightly different every time I wear it, but always unmistakably of itself. And it's one of those very rare perfumes that's so rich and well-drawn it seems to be alive, in the room with you, possessing its own personality. Somehow this tiny bottle of scented alcohol feels almost...human. (There's probably a scientific reason for this; I simply chalk it up to the intangible magic of perfume.) Yes, No. 5 extrait is expensive. It's also, like the Pietà , a work of art. But you can't wear the Pietà .

If Chanel No. 5 Parfum (and only the Parfum/Extrait) were materialized into a solid object, it would undoubtedly be a fancy yellow diamond, something like the Tiffany Diamond: a stone forged by nature and cut by mankind to almost absolute perfection... Cold to the first touch, but with an intense solar yellow fire and sparking at any movement... Compact in size, but extremely dense, eternal on its existence. If it were a sound, it would be a symphony orchestra accompanied by a full choir, all perfectly tuned. The Parfum version of No. 5 is magical: the famous aldehydes give an almost icy freshness at the top, a cold air that soon begins to warm up when the flowers appear. And what flowers! The floral absolutes of May Rose, Grasse Jasmine and Ylang-Ylang are in their purest and richest form, yet they are as intertwined as the carbon bonds that make up a diamond. These three flowers sing together to project the image of an abstract, almost cubist, golden flower. Furthermore, the iris absolute is so wonderful, so creamy but at the same time so dry, thick, sober and powdery, that it makes the experience even better if possible. It's a fragrance full of contrasts: it's clean like the finest floral French soap and cold as snow, but it has that skin touch and human warmth (never dirty, fetid); it's smooth in its potency, yet highly dense and consistent in what it delivers. Longevity is good on my skin, but the projection is naturally discreet. Where I live it's hot and humid, but that doesn't stop me from using it, I even think it helps the perfume to develop in an even more beautiful way. The bottle I have was produced in 2021, but I don't feel the need to run after an older version. I could say many other things about Chanel No. 5 Parfum, I could make this review longer than it already is, but I can say that: if you've only tried the Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, Premiére and L'Eau, you DON'T KNOW Chanel No. 5. I like these versions, but none, I repeat, *NONE* comes close to the majesty of the Parfum. If you hate, loathe No. 5, if you think it's something overrated, outdated or tacky based only on these four versions, your opinion may change when you try the Parfum on your skin. Only the Parfum delivers the reason why this perfume deserves the fame it has, the iconic status it has. TRY THE PARFUM, GUYS!!!