N°5 is the eau de parfum that Jacques Polge composed in 1986 for Chanel from Ernest Beaux's 1921 perfume, the first ever created for Gabrielle Chanel. An aldehydic floral bouquet built around rose and jasmine, citrus at the top, soft vanilla in the base, according to the house; Victoria Frolova hears in it the most assertive version of N°5. Square bottle with a faceted stopper, from 35 to 200 ml.
Chanel does not tier N°5 into a pyramid. The house describes a floral bouquet composed around rose and jasmine, brightened at the top by citrus notes; the aldehydes give it, the house says, a unique presence, and the soft touch of vanilla a sensual sillage. The eau de parfum holds to this signature of the perfume.
Aldehydes and citrus at the top
Frolova describes in the perfume the ylang-ylang that opens before the aldehydes, whose effervescence lights up everything, with the clarity of neroli and bergamot; for the eau de parfum, she finds the aldehydes less present than in the eau de toilette, but the opening sharper.
Rose, jasmine and peach in the heart
The heart rests, according to Chanel, on rose and jasmine. Frolova adds, for the eau de parfum, a creamy peach that laces the rose, lily of the valley and jasmine, more present than in the extract; she recalls the quality of the rose and jasmine absolutes from Grasse that ground, in her view, the uniqueness of the perfume.
Vanilla, sandalwood, leather in the base
The soft vanilla closes the house's account. Frolova hears in the eau de parfum an amplified sandalwood that replaces the musky darkness of the original, a color of leather and incense; in the parfum, vetiver and sandalwood, vanilla and coumarin, rich musks. The field keeps the iris and vetiver of the parfum in the base.
What remains outside the declared accord
The musks and civet that Frolova names do not appear at the house, which cites only six materials; the ylang-ylang, vetiver and iris in the field come from her description of the parfum. She recalls that natural musk and civet have disappeared from the formulas and that today's N°5 keeps, in her view, its character.
What the label declares
Chanel publishes a list under full disclosure, PS000027B: after alcohol, water and the word Parfum, linalool, bergamot oil, ylang-ylang, coumarin, linalyl acetate, hydroxycitronellal, alpha-isomethyl ionone, jasmine oil or extract, limonene, geraniol, citronellol, a sun filter, vanillin, rose oil or extract.
Then come benzyl benzoate, cinnamyl alcohol, pinene, geranyl acetate, beta-caryophyllene, orange blossom oil, eugenol, santalol, benzyl salicylate, clove oil, citral, farnesol, geranium oil, terpineol, isoeugenol and benzyl alcohol.
The list ends with bitter orange oil, benzyl cinnamate, eugenyl acetate, terpinolene, patchouli oil, white sandalwood oil, anethole, methyl salicylate, Peru balsam, benzaldehyde, alpha-terpinene and four colorants, two yellow and two red.