Almost a 5/5 but alas, a 4.8/5…

Joking aside this is the blueprint! So…what does that mean?

I have a 1962 bottle of Chanel No. 5 extrait, some 75 Parfum, some pre 70’s EDT, and the Eau Premiere. I love the Eau Premiere and EDTs— and the extrait/parfum— but it does not really always smell good.

As Guy Robert once said, “above all else, a perfume must smell good.” Which sounds stupid but has merit if you ascribe to that. I think implicitly we all do, which is why Chanel No. 5 has a THREE POINT SEVEN OUT OF FIVE ON HERE???

People hate it! I will not repeat the slanderlibel about No. 5 nor defend it really because everyone has different tastes, some more refined than others, and others not BONKED with scent memories of a fragrance or class of them or fragrances at all! But it begs the question— why has it been so successful for 100 years?

Innovation, quality control, mass production, brand preservation during Nazi occupation of France, and because Coco Chanel was truly one of a kind and a visionary inventor, stylist, and art director. Did she sew? I don’t care about her tbh lol I care about Ernest Beaux, the perfumer responsible for this.

The smell (1962 extrait):

Top: WHOA that’s a LOT OF ALDEHYDES. No. 22 famously has a lot of aldehydes but No. 5 has the full spectrum of them and at an ear-shattering level. I cannot parse out the florals that are being modified from this but it smells white floral dominant—LOTS of Lilial. There is civet and indeed there is a poo poo pee pee quality but not like the pearl clutching modernist cupcake and axe smelling ass folks would like to claim. SMELL 2inches AWAY FROM HAND MINIMUM!!! And for god sake let the alcohol completely dry off you nuts-y boys, girls, and scented swirls of gender diverse people.

Heart (ventricle 1): I love Lilial so much. It’s the best floral aroma chemical next to ionones. This is a big lily, jasmine, rose, and

HELLO

C I V E T!

Heart (ventricle 2): the woody notes emerge and mix with the heart, creating the first (to my knowledge) WOODY FLORAL!!! This is an aldehydic WOODY floral. Well, animalic aldehydic super modern woman girl woody floral Eau de Parfum de toilette Eau fraïche… the sandalwood and animalics (there is a lot of different musks/animalics— also nitro-musks because this is that old— look up nitro musks if you’re unfamiliar). The rose rises up a bit with the jasmine to lie atop a sleepy base.

Base: it makes sense to me why No. 22 has a sandalwood base, as the Beaux creations are all aldehydic, woody florals. Sandalwood and now a smooth creamy musk anoint the skin.

Not a top of all time, but something I like wearing to bed or with friends— it’s just not the vibe idk. And I like powder and animalics and florals— this is just really extreme. It feels experimental and well, it was!