First Sniff of an Icon: Chanel No. 5
I finally got around to smelling Chanel No. 5! One of my most favorite perfume snobs in the whole wide world gifted me a lovely bottle for my birthday this year. Now that the bottle’s arrived, I don’t know if I should be mad at myself or not for taking so long to finally sniff this one. I always knew deep down inside that No. 5 would be a love at first sniff and as expected, our hearts align.
My Very First Encounter
In the beginning it just seemed on principle any half-way decent perfume collector would have a bottle in their collection, right? Well, that was my thinking anyway. Honestly, other than seeing the bottle in some Andy Warhol prints, it was not a perfume found on any vanities during my lifetime. If it was there, I simply have no recollection.
Aldehydes and Smoothness
Anyway, my nose has an imagination of its very own and somehow the scent is everything I expected of this classic icon. I absolutely expected that touch of aldehydes with a floral sweetness. What I did not expect was how lovely and smooth the notes would come together without a screech or scratch.
Smelling the Family Tree
Instantly, the words “Mother of all Scents” come to mind.
And then something else happened. It was sorta like a fragrant epiphany, a vision of beauty and scented inspiration. Suddenly, as the notes began to invade my nostrils visions of perfumes bottles bursting forth like the birth of a new era, an evolution of scent as could only be encouraged by an icon like Chanel No. 5.
Did I just smell the family tree? Like wow, I can sense so many perfumes obviously take inspiration from this fragrance. Perhaps this experience will result in some shift to my perspective. I’m not sure at the moment. I really wanted to take some pictures of the bottle and document it into my collection because I already know, I’m gonna go heavy on that sprayer and I can see a big ol’ dent on the way as I type out this experience.
The Story Behind the Pics
I took a few photos of my bottle along with the two-volume book set, Chanel No. 5: Story of a Perfume by Pauline Dreyfus, which I picked up back in February. The set is presented in a deluxe box inspired by the original perfume packaging. I’d been going back and forth on getting No. 5 for ages, but buying this gorgeous set—which celebrates the perfume’s journey from 1921 to today—was clearly my way of deciding that yes, I definitely wanted the bottle too!
The book details how Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel created one of the first artificial perfumes for the modern woman, wanting “a perfume that is compound . . . not rose or lily of the valley.” Presented in a distinctively pared-back glass bottle, this fragrance was pioneering in its use of synthetics. It’s been memorably endorsed by icons like Marilyn Monroe, and the book showcases advertising campaigns by geniuses like Richard Avedon and Baz Luhrmann. Having this set makes documenting my new bottle feel like chronicling a piece of history!
Final Impressions and the Search for Vintage
Now that I’ve actually added No. 5 to my personal perfume collection and have spent a bit of time learning about the history of the scent, no doubt I need to find myself a vintage, pre-1986 bottle. I am so curious about the previous versions and all versions for that matter. Well, I guess that’ll give me another name to include on that never-ending list for the vintage perfume hunt.
A Note From Me
So far, I’ve only indulged in about five or six sprays prior to bedtime. Naturally, I’ve gotta have a little time to get to know No. 5. I have a stinkin’ feeling it’s gonna evaporate like nothing off me 🙁 I sure hope not but we’ll see. I do expect it to require a heavy finger on the atomizer to get myself into that blissful state of just enough, somewhere shy of almost choking. I’ll keep a count and report back with my findings.
