Last week I went to the launch of the new Chanel No5 fragrance, No5 L’Eau, and for the past three days I have been doing a bit of a “compare and contrast”, walking around wearing the original No5 on one wrist and the new No5 on the other. Chanel No5 is one of the world’s most popular perfumes and perhaps its most iconic, but I have to say that it has never been quite my taste. I think of it as an “everything” fragrance – it seems to have all of the smells you can possibly think of crushed into it, an army of smells, and it’s difficult to single out any one particular note. You can sense the jasmine and the rose and the amber and the sandalwood and the bergamot and the lemon and the iris and the ylang-ylang and the neroli and the vanilla and the patchouli and all of the other things that are in there, but try and focus on one note and all of the others gather around it like a clingy gaggle of schoolgirls. I always think of the No5 components as being a very loyal gang – they will not be separated at any cost, and if you try to corner one component on its own (is that lily of the valley I spy" is that rose") you’ll be confronted by the full force of the No5 Squad.
Those who find this overwhelming might welcome the arrival of Chanel’s newest fragrance, No5 L’Eau. It’s altogether lighter and fresher than the original scent – I think much more modern, more delicate. Olivier...