N°5 Eau de Toilette

In 1921, Gabrielle Chanel asked Ernest Beaux for a woman’s perfume that smells like a woman. The perfumer offered her a composition making unprecedented use of aldehydes; she chose the fifth version and kept its number as the name. In 1924, she launched N°5 eau de toilette.

The house presents it as a vibrant echo of the 1921 floral bouquet, a warm and lively version of the original fragrance. Chanel sells it as a spray, as a refillable travel spray, and as a 50 ml refill.

The 2026 reissue

In March 2026, Chanel reissued the eau de toilette in a new bottle, with a new campaign. The house now describes it as a woody abstract floral, powerful and textured, inviting wearers to rediscover N°5 in a new light.

Olivier Polge, Chanel’s perfumer-creator since 2015, sees in it a modern abstract floral composition, distinguished by a subtly woody facet. Paris Select Book writes that the olfactory signature remains that of 1924; the critic Persolaise likewise speaks of an eau de toilette put into a new bottle.

The waters of N°5

The eau de toilette differs from the extrait, denser and more opulent, through a lighter, woodier character carried by vetiver and sandalwood. At Chanel, it coexists with other readings of N°5, including N°5 Eau Première, signed by Jacques Polge in 2008, and N°5 L’Eau.