N°5 Chanel 1986 Eau de Parfum

8.6 / 10262 Ratings

N°5 (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Chanel for women and was released in 1986. The scent is floral-powdery. The longevity is above-average. It is still available to purchase.

Perfumer

Jacques Polge

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Aldehydes Bergamot Neroli Lemon
Heart Notes	Iris Jasmine Lily of the valley Rose
Base Notes	Amber Sandalwood Vanilla Vetiver

Ratings

Scent

8.6262 Ratings

Longevity

8.3227 Ratings

Sillage

7.8225 Ratings

Bottle

8.6227 Ratings

Value for money

7.952 Ratings

Submitted by Estate, last update on 23.04.2022.

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Reviews

12/27/2021

9
Scent 8
Longevity 7
Sillage 8
Bottle 7
Pricing

Kurai
180 Reviews

Kurai

Undefeated

Nowadays, the floral aldehyde is a lost genre. We even forgot it is a genre. We only remember No5. All others - Sortilege, Arpege, Caleche and what else? - they are defeated and long forgotten. It is lonely at the top.

Despite being engineered to perfection, No5 still works with the skin's chemistry. To me, this interaction is what makes a perfume a perfume; and I feel it is missing in many other perfumes. The downside is, it doesn't work on everyone. Spectacular on some people's skin and close to sour mold on others. It is therefore not only the most famous perfume, but arguably also one of the most regretted purchases.

On my skin No5 works wonders, though. It feels like I'm emitting sparkles and feathers. Even though the whole aldehyde genre isn't a perfect fit to my taste, this is pure bliss.

08/17/2021

Velvetmoon

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Velvetmoon

Top Review 28

I finally understand

My first impression was similar to many others unfortunately not as positive as I would have liked it in view of the significant history. One smells this perfume just the long history and that was something with which my understanding was somewhat overwhelmed. The composition of fierce aldehydes, proud florals, citrus and warm sandalwood finish with vanilla and amber was zero playfulness but very serious from start to finish and, I thought at the time, old without negative judgement but completely non-judgmental. It didn't suit me, as much as I wanted to like it.

I was in my early 20s and I still felt somewhere between adolescence and adulthood all the time at the time of the test. Didn't really feel grown up yet and was sometimes very surprised that others saw me that way. A few years later, I'm sitting here, the worst of it with Covid is hopefully over, and I'm getting married and moving in a few weeks and I'll be ending a big chapter to start a new one. A lot has happened. The sample of Chanel No 5 came back to me by accident and I just sprayed it on my wrist again. And then on my neck. And then on the other wrist. I could hardly stop and my eyes sparkled. I finally got it and a new world of fragrance revealed itself to me, mature and sophisticated. This perfume exudes elegance and class and somehow always goes.

I don't know if it's because I've become a bit more mature myself in the meantime, or if my nose has become more refined through all the testing, but I might not want to question it. The bottle is on order and I can't wait to start using it regularly. I'm ready for this perfume now.

5 Replies

07/16/2021

10
Scent 10
Longevity 9
Sillage 9
Bottle 9
Pricing

JP95

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JP95

Wonderful

At first sniff, I thought of an old lady in a fur coat, wearing all her jewelry and retired to a small country house after a busy life.
Today, in my mid-20s, I think it's just beautiful. Classic, elegant, for a woman who knows what she wants. I can also imagine him on men. I find him suitable for any season, but over 30 degrees he could then be too much.

1 Reply

05/13/2021

Sleppy94

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Sleppy94

Top Review 18

I think I'm starting to understand...

For a very long time, I couldn't stand it when Douglas put the sample of the latest version of the oh-so-famous and still best-selling Chanel No. 5 in with the purchase. The scent reminded me of grannies, toilet spray, cat urine and rusty jewellery all at the same time. Was there nothing better on the market back in the day? Did people have no taste? Did it become famous because of a ridiculously high price and subsequent hype, and is therefore bought by image-obsessed people with no sense of smell? These are all questions that came up in me every time I heard about Chanel.

After a year of Corona boredom in home-studying, I started bidding like crazy on eBay for old perfume miniatures I heard about from Russian and American perfume YouTube channels. A little world history in cute little bottles for a few euros delivered straight to your door. Meanwhile, I've become a bit of a shopping addict with all the auctioneering, but that's another story.

Anyway, because it cost just a few Euros and can't be missing from a vintage collection, I acquired a nice old looking half-full bottle of the eau de parfum version. Before I put minis in my little antique glass case, I always try a drop first. "Well, good" I think to myself and put a drop on the back of my hand.

"Gold" is the first thing that comes to mind. The old metal, what I mainly heard before, is here just a tiny layer, which is just present in vintage jewelry. What I remember as stinging is here merely a shining. The gold reflects the sun's rays. And what I never noticed before is the warmth. Golden, pleasant warmth. Like a room lit by a fireplace.

Is the scent different? Am I different? I dig out the tester of the newer eau de toilette version from Douglas and spray my other hand with it. The answer is: both. The old EdP version is indeed warmer and less pungent than the EdT version. But meanwhile, the EdT version is also more multi-faceted for me.

Verdict: No.5 actually doesn't seem that bad in the EdP version (or at least the older EdP version). Warm, soapy, elegant vintage gold. I might even get it someday when I'm over 40 - if it won't be reformulated for the worse. However, experience with vintage fragrances seems necessary to perceive it in its fullness. Going straight from current fruitchoulis and sugar bombs to No. 5 would be too crass.

6 Replies

05/05/2021

8.5
Scent 9
Longevity 9
Sillage 9
Bottle 10
Pricing

Chanelle
1 Review

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Chanelle

Top Review 25

Happy 100th Birthday, dear Number Five!

Not the EdP, but "The fragrance" is 100 years old today, on Cinco de Mayo, the 5th in the 5th. Time that I also give my 50 cents to it:
The most famous fragrance of all time; the perfume Marilyn Monroe wore to bed (and nothing else, as she erotically implied), the legend that is in seemingly eternal competition with another Guerlain fragrance I hold in high esteem, Shalimar, even though the two bear little resemblance, but both are sold virtually by the minute somewhere in the world, the forerunner of all aldehyde-heavy women's waters, which despite a few minor reformulations is still the same, has an anniversary. Has a limited edition been spotted anywhere - despite permanent lockdown and the like - to mark the anniversary or some form of tribute? At least not from me...
I took but today on the occasion of this special day my old EdP to take it again in detail under the magnifying glass / nose and in view of the fact that the fragrance is quite officially absolutely timeless to illuminate.
What makes it so chic, so ageless, so perpetually wearable?
I'll tell you: I have no idea.
When it was chosen by Gabrielle-Coco on 5.5.1921 to be bottled and offered for sale, it was still shockingly new and different for that time. Aldehyde overdose! Madame Chanel was not rather fond of the shocking, she had the screaming (shocking) pink bags, which her competitor Elsa Schiaparelli from around the corner in Paris in her trademark color gave to customers, replaced by Coco's own, discreet, should someone who carried one with him, Chanel decided to buy, it is said.
But Coco was simply ahead of her time in many ways. The No. 5 clones soon flooded the market, and some still hold up: Arpege, Tosca, Sortilege...
The soapy opener is at least neither Emeraude, nor Shalimar, both of which tend towards the oriental. In the 80s, a new variant was born, the EdP, which is designed slightly differently, but still very clean in its opening:
Sauberfrau and Fräulein Rührmichnichtan, both in the beige Twinset, can put it on reassuringly without leaning too far out or being mistaken for audacious.
The 80s No. 5 in the EdP version is THE daytime wear go-to signature scent for me.
Aldehydes are clearly soapy there from the start, but become faded and powdery. The development gains warmer notes, amber and soft sandalwood add radiance, it becomes rosier with time but still powdery creamy. The sweetness is kept in check, not gourmand, but floral-vanilla.
The shelf life is enormous, especially for this price (which is relative, because in the 90s I once saw a report about the margins in the fragrance business, explained by the example of No.5: manufacturing costs about 1.90 DM, VK about 80 DM. But the name costs extra), compared with the Chanel Exclusives a Pappenstiel.
It is simply so: When in doubt, wear No. 5.
You just can't go wrong with it.
On the next 100 years!

13 Replies

04/30/2021

DK74

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DK74

Helpful Review 3

Ernest Beaux is to blame!

Basically, I love the old classics, but often have problems with fragrances that have been designed for ladies (eg Mitsuko - at all often in Guerlain fragrances, although not specified in the DP) - there is always a fragrance ingredient that I can not stand... Until now, I had not understood aldehydes as a fragrance in their own right, but thought that this chemical fragrance ingredient was just to 'support' the other fragrances it contained. Now knows that the Aldheydkomplex can be understood as an independent note - and the mystery is solved - the Aldehyde fragrance is to blame!

Unfortunately, he haut also here full purely and overlays in my fragrance perception simply everything - citric I can not smell at all; also in the HN are with me the aldehydes mega dominant, so that the flowers only work in the background; with the classic base they then finally disappear from my nose... - that is unfortunately but much too late to enjoy this certainly wonderful classic.

Would be interesting to know if I'm the only one who feels this way....

2 Replies

01/30/2021

ViktoriaAkiV

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ViktoriaAkiV

Top Review 17

Chanel N°5: my love

Of course, everyone has heard of N°5...

All I have heard in my environment of the fragrance was : "that I a fragrance for grannies" or "too intrusive" and "headache fragrance".... i didn't hear anything positive.
I found this strange, so I started to research on different forums and lo and behold,
there are 2 opinions about N°5: either you hate it or you love it.... there is no in-between. Somehow I never got to know the fragrance until...

I came home from work, stressed, annoyed and tired.... also in the household there were some things to do, then still appointments and so on (everyone knows such days...). After spending the next half day doing housework, I went to the study to deal with some emails.

And there it was on the desk, given to me by my husband. It had been there all day, waiting for me. With shaky hands, I tore the foil, opened the wrapper.... i sprayed it in the air and all the stress of the day was blown away.... i just sat there and breathed in this wonderful scent. I felt like I was in another world.

Love at first spray... this is the one scent in my still small collection that I will always repurchase.
Yes, I am one of those who LOVE this fragrance and cannot understand all those who hate it....
To this day, I am grateful to my husband for bringing us (N°5 and I) together!

A sensual fragrance for special occasions.

4 Replies

07/19/2020

10
Scent 9
Longevity 7
Sillage 10
Bottle

MsGina

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MsGina

Top Review 31

The beginning of a great love.

In the summer of 2 years ago I decided on a hot Saturday that a new perfume had to be found. After three stays in hospital and several operations I had the desire for a new fragrance to start another chapter in my life.
Soon I decided rather half-heartedly for a fresh, fruity scent and tested only out of curiosity the No. 5 on the other arm
"What a stinker! " So my first thought was. With my new acquisition, I left the store, strolled back to my parking lot and smelled on both wrists alternately.
Unfortunately, my new acquisition in the summer heat developed into a sweet and sticky mixture. The 'Stinker' however became more and more pleasant. Gentle, serious, but friendly, bright, soft and pleasant. Present but not intrusive.
Less than half an hour later I realized that I had completely misjudged this great scent and that I absolutely had to have it.
In another branch of the perfumery I was lucky enough to return my bad purchase and at the same time happily take the No. 5 with me. From that day on, my great love, although I now prefer the pure perfume.
The smell makes me feel safe. A perfume which I wear mainly for me
For me Chanel Nr 5 EdP smells like security, peace, serenity and style.
I think the fragrance is suitable for all ages, but it is a very mature fragrance, it does not play.

With me it lasts 6 to 8 hours, but stays close to the body.

12 Replies

03/03/2020

9
Scent 8
Longevity 8
Sillage 8
Bottle

Parfümlein

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Parfümlein

Top Review 25

Chanel Nr 5 - the fragrance for natural authority

This fragrance is and remains the true one, if you want to radiate something like natural authority, especially if you don't have it spontaneously available, because you forgot it in the car, for example, or in the bathroom or between the newspaper. That's how I felt today:
For some time now I have been thinking about how I could make a fool of myself again. I didn't have to wait long and the situation arose. I messed up one thing. That is to say, my colleague and I actually messed them up together, but I did a bit more, because you had to be powerful to really mess up Italian, which unfortunately my colleague is not, but I am. I really hit it. Shortly after that I was invited to the boss, and while I was still thinking about whether I was really an idiot enough with this messed up thing, a second messed up thing came unexpectedly, so that the invitation was at least really worthwhile. What a beautiful day!, I thought to myself in the morning and pondered: Which perfume suits this wonderful day best?
Chanel No. 5, of course. It's the fragrance that best gets you through these days. No matter how stupid you look - with the No. 5 you always appear somehow competent and authoritarian. You grow by at least 20 centimetres, which enables you to communicate at least at eye level. These are of course the aldehydes. At the beginning they march up with such military rigour that the whole environment, depending on the situation, comes to a standstill or at least goes mugging. What a wonderful smell! What strength in the first moments! The aldehydes cover every sensitive area like a protective film. It is possible that Siegfried did not bathe in dragon's blood at all, but in Chanel No. 5 - who knows for sure even today. This perfume gives strength to anyone who needs it, it never lets anyone down. Maybe that's why it has so many lovers and so many enemies. Similar to some beers, I suppose you have to pass a maturity test first. You have to go through the enormous aldehyde wave and get used to it, and then discover a wonderfully warm, spicy, floral note at its core, which becomes more feminine by the hour, and finally, after the struggle you have survived for which you put on this fragrance, lulls you into delicious relaxation. When you get to the woody base, you're already relaxed and happy enough to pat yourself on the back and say, "You did good! And tomorrow we'll do it again!

10 Replies

11/19/2018

9
Scent 9
Longevity 7
Sillage 10
Bottle

SchatzSucher

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SchatzSucher

Top Review 46

The cool beauty with the warm heart

I could slap myself that I have not gotten to know this wonderful scent before. I've never met Chanel No. 5 anywhere My mother never liked him and there is no one in my circle of acquaintances who wears or ever wore Chanel No 5. I began to wonder if this scent might be so aloof that no one would dare to approach it.
Now he is recently with me as a test specimen in the eau de parfum version and I am raptured
I know it does not correspond exactly to the original No. 5 of 1921, but is considered a new interpretation created in the 1980s by Jacques Polge. But I consider this new interpretation to be outstandingly successful.
And I am relieved to discover that Chanel No 5 is not an aloof and unattainable fragrance.
I have been working on the fragrance for quite a while now and would like to say a few sentences about it.

First of all I notice this cool, slightly candle waxy note, with an almost metallic touch. In addition one can guess delicate citrus notes, which lighten up this waxy-metallic cool note.
Soon a bouquet of bright white flowers appears, so pure white that I am almost blinded by its beauty and brilliance. The cool impression is still there, together with the candle wax-like background.
The radiant bouquet lasts a long time and waves with its cool elegance.
There is something diva-like about it, whereby Chanel No 5 never seems bitchy and alluring in my nose. The overall impression is altogether a very friendly one, even if a bit distanced.
But we divas like to allow a little distance
You have to wait a long time for the base, because here a very skillful turn takes place.
The splendid bouquet of flowers has made its entrance, recedes somewhat into the background and leaves the stage to the notes, which provide a reversal from cool to warm. Amber and vanilla are the most obvious, sandalwood may be present in small traces, I don't smell vetiver.
I have already encountered this reversal from cool to warm with other fragrances, but here with Chanel No 5 I notice it particularly clearly.
And this fine note of candle wax still resonates, I would even like to say that the candle has just been blown out and the hint of warm wax and this fine smoke gives the fragrance an even more refined underline.
Who of us hasn't already consciously perceived this fine smell of a freshly extinguished candle and enjoyed it?
After many hours, the fragrance bids farewell quietly, gently floral and delicately vanilla, like the last glow of a candle until it is completely extinguished.

My conclusion:

Chanel No 5 is a fragrance that should be performed, that needs a great performance and audience. A big gala, a party with evening dress and beautiful jewellery. For the everyday life almost too bad.
This aldehyde candle wax note may certainly put some people off and may also seem old-fashioned (I have often read "Alte Hütte" in aldehyde-laden scents, I find it fitting and delicious), but I prefer to replace the term "old-fashioned" with "timeless".

On the subject of durability, I can only say that many a modern water, whether for ladies or gentlemen, can cut a very thick slice off this EdP. There are easily nine hours in there. At the beginning you are also very well noticed
One of the really great fragrances and in my opinion rightly a wonderful classic and one of the most famous and best-selling fragrances. No matter what the concentration of the fragrance, each one will have its advantages and its lovers.
And it is not for nothing that this composition is the inspiration for so many other fragrances that float along in the aldehyde fairway and some of which can and could hold their own just as well.
I am thinking of Tosca, as well as the original No 5 published in 1921, or Nonchalance from 1960, where there are many similarities
I thank you, dear Santalwalti, very much for making it possible for me to get to know and love this treasure!
I also felt like getting to know the other scent concentrations.

I can only advise everyone to try it. Even if you decide against No. 5.

24 Replies

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