CHANEL No. 5: A Classic

Just the other day I was taking inventory of my small collection of perfume, when I realized all i really want to smell like is CHANEL No. 5. It's no surprise that my slowly expanding collection of empty glass perfume bottles includes three CHANEL No. 5's, and just one elegant gold-topped bottle of Annick Goutal Eau d' Hadrien Parfum which my mother bought me from Paris many Springs ago.

CHANEL No. 5 is simply a classic, with its "aldehyde" scent rooted in synthetic materials rather than in nature (no squash or zucchini notes here). The fragrance was created for legendary designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in 1921 by her perfumer Earnest Beaux, and it remains the top selling fragrance in the world. It's no wonder it was Marilyn Monroe's favorite scent, and it's no wonder that 5 was Ms. Chanel's lucky number.