Monday 19 September 2011

Review: Chanel No5 Eau de Parfum.

Chanel No5 is a little bit of a cult classic, it was launched in 1921 and has been a best-seller since (supposedly there is one bottle sold every 30 seconds). Ask anyone to think about a perfume and I bet a little image of the Chanel No5 bottle pops into their head.




It was the first perfume to be made with synthetic scents (aldehydes) which along with Jasmine made for a very expensive perfume, and still is; 50ml retails for between £50-£70. I didn't purchase this one, my dad bought it for my mum and I inherited it from her I don't think it's a perfume I would ever pick out for myself.

Like a lot of perfumes, Chanel has some truly beautiful adverts and I love these two as much as I love the Flora by Gucci advertisements- Nicole Kidman and Audry Tautou are stunning and I love that a whole love story is told in just 2 minutes. I think I like adverts a bit too much, it's silly really.





On paper this perfume should be one that I really love: with base notes including sandalwood, vanilla, musk and patchouli- all notes found in perfumes I love (Moschino Couture! and Flora by Gucci), but I think the overwhelming amount of floral notes in the top and middle notes puts me off a little. It has floral (ylang-ylang and neroli) and citrus (lemon and bergamot) top notes, as well as synthetic aldehydes (which can be floral, fruity or citrusy) as well as floral middle notes (including rose, lily-of-the-valley, iris and jasmine)

On my skin this scent becomes (unsurprisingly) less overtly floral and more of a musky, spicy scent- perhaps almost cinnamony- with the jasmine and ylang-ylang remaining prominent, but it doesn't seem to be a very strong perfume, and fades to a nice soft scent within about 1/2 an hour- the scent does last for a long time after that though (probably about 10 hours). For me this is more of  a daytime scent, but I can imagine it might smell a lot more strongly floral on other people- so I can see how it would be very suitable for evening too.

I do like the scent, but I don't love it as much as I thought I would- as it's such an iconic and classic perfume I thought it must be a truly amazingly scent, but to me it's not all that special. Maybe it is simply too hyped up, and I was expecting too much? Or perhaps I am just not classy enough to enjoy it?!

What do you think of Chanel No5? Am I the only person in the world who doesn't completely adore it?


                                                                                        xGretalRabbitx

4 comments:

  1. I really want to try Channel number 5 as like you say its just a classic. Quite expensive tho xx

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  2. I know, it's quite ridiculous really! You might be able to get it cheaper online though? Or make do with just testing it in every perfume shope you go into!
    xGretalRabbitx

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  3. I never really understood the Chanel no5 mania, personally I don`t like the scent. I think there are far better ones out there.xx

    http://www.theprovocativecouture.com/

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  4. Well I'm glad I'm not the only one Alina- everyone I know seems to adore it, and I can't see why either!
    xGretalRabbitx

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