Candy Crush is where I write about scent-related things that I’m currently obsessed with.
If you’ve not been living under a rock, you will know that Nº5, the world’s most famous perfume, and bedtime ritual for Miss Marilyn Monroe, celebrated its centenary this year. CHANEL marked the occasion in an unexpected way, with CHANEL FACTORY 5 – a series of pop ups and a limited editions that celebrated the innovative packaging of the fragrance. Now they’re rounding of the centenary year with a limited edition bottle with a twist. We’ve seen Nº5 in red (who could forget that iconic red bottle?!) but for 2021, the icon is clad in white paper.
I was invited to check out the CHANEL FACTORY 5 Pop-Up @ The Corner Shop, Selfridges so I made a quick instagram reel showing you what it’s all about. The pop-up is open until 31 July and features 17 limited edition products, each showcasing Nº5 and inspired by everyday objects. You can check out the reel by clicking here and heading over to my instagram OR you can view below the jump!
Candy Crush is where I write about scent-related things that I’m currently obsessed with.
So, remember last week when I revealed that CHANEL is celebrating the centenary of Nº5 with FACTORY 5, a collection of limited edition products? Well, there is more! Whilst I shared with you five of the star products, there is actually a total of 17. You can head over to CHANEL’s website and check out the full range by clicking here (I have the paint tin of shower gel and the Nº5 water bottle in my sights), but today I want to talk to you about the pop up CHANEL FACTORY 5 experiences that will soon be appearing around the world, and specifically here in the UK at Selfridge’s Corner Shop, London.
Candy Crush is where I write about scent-related things that I’m currently obsessed with
You may have heard that Nº5 turns 100 this year and as expected, CHANEL has quite the celebration planned. But how do you honour the most famous perfume in the world hitting such a milestone? Let’s not forget that Nº5 is so famous that when people think ‘perfume’, they think Nº5. It’s a perfume that has graced the skin of our mothers, sisters, wives, grandmothers, friends and more, and for the last 100 years, Nº5 has been there, scenting some of our most important moments. So how the heck do you celebrate such a big birthday? Well, that is a very good question and one that I’m sure has been keeping a few people over at CHANEL awake over the last few years, but finally, we are starting to have an answer, and that answer is the CHANEL FACTORY 5 COLLECTION.
Let’s talk LES EAUX DE CHANEL. As far as capsule collections go, it is easily one of the most cohesive, elegant and on-brand lines to exist. Inspired by travel and the routes out of Paris Coco Chanel took to places of significance in her life, LES EAUX tell rich olfactory stories in that effortless CHANEL style. There is Deauville, the resort town where Chanel opened her first boutique, translated into a sparkling citrus-chypre with green notes. Then Biarritz, another resort and another boutique, represented in scent form by a refreshing, oceanic muguet. One cannot forget Venise, a city Chanel loved and visited following the death of her lover, Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel – a city imagined in vanilla and silk. Then finally, Riviera, inspired by Chanel’s villa on the Côte d’Azur – society’s hotspot captured in a powdery, solar orange blossom. It’s a great collection and now there’s one more addition…
And that edition is Paris-Édimbourg. Transporting us straight to the Scottish Highlands (via Paris, of course), Paris-Édimbourg tells the story of the refuge and sanctuary Chanel sought in this wild and rugged landscape with the Duke of Westminster, her lover in the early 1900s. The scent itself stands out as a subversive summer scent that relies on aromatic and resinous notes to create an unusual sense of freshness, with a rugged, masculine quality that slots in nicely along the freshness, silkiness, aquaticness (not a word), and powderiness (also not a word) of the current line up. It completes the range quite nicely, if you ask me, which I’m assuming you did, because you’re here reading this review…. Anyway, let’s sniff!
We’re just over a week into 2021 and we already have the first big perfume launch of the year, which means this is my first perfume review of the year (exciting!) and it’s for a brand new CHANEL fragrance (very exciting!!) – a CHANEL Exclusif, no less (ARGH SO EXCITING!!!). This CHANEL fanboy is very please to be kicking off the year with something so wonderful – so, let’s take a few moments away from the world and enjoy a spot of scented beauty.
The latest addition to Les Exclusifs is Le Lion and it’s a long-awaited one, having launched in some territories almost one year ago! But now it’s here! As with all of the Exclusifs, Le Lion takes inspiration from the house itself, and this time the lion, the fifth sign of the zodiac and Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s astrological sign, is the theme. In the 1920s, Coco fell in love with the city of Venice, being inspired by its art and culture, and like Chanel herself, the city existed under the guardian sign of the lion. The lion became an emblem for Chanel, both in her personal spaces (her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon was filled with lions crafted from marble, bronze and wood), but also in her clothing, with the symbol engraved on the buttons of tweed suits or the clasps of bags. The lion is a symbol of Chanel’s tenacity and endurance and this is the theme that the fragrance explores.
Le Lion the perfume, seeks to capture this tenacious personality but also the rich and exotic spirit of Venice, the city of the lion that Coco loved. CHANEL perfumer Olivier Polge was intrigued by the emblem of the lion rather than the animal itself, crafting a warm amber fragrance (I’m not using the “O” word, this is my replacement) with a “solar aura” and a “gentle strength”. Le Lion stands out as a uniquely intense and warm fragrance within Les Exclusifs, which tend to lean light, ethereal, abstract, and it is quite surprising in its richness. The big question though, is whether it was worth the wait? Well, read on and you shall see!
It’s time for a new Fume Chat podcast episode. CHANEL has just released their new Nº5 campaign featuring Nick’s doppelgänger, Academy Award winning actress, Marion Cotillard. To celebrate we’re taking a deep dive into the history of the most famous perfume in the world (the icon, the legend CHANEL Nº5) – we discuss its creation and sniff the five versions currently available. Join Thomas and Marion, sorry, no, join Thomas and Nick in this iconic episode. Listen below the jump (or wherever you get your podcasts)
Candy Crush is where I write about scent-related things that I’m currently obsessed with.
What? Two Candy Crushes in one week? Wait? Two CHANEL Candy Crushes in a week? Hold Up! Two CHANEL Nº5Candy Crushes in one blooming week? That’s right, folks, you read correctly, and it’s true, I’m really celebrating Nº5 this week! Today I have two lovely Nº5-related things to share: the new campaign starring none other than Marion Cotillard (which I teased earlier this week) and some gorgeous new Nº5 ancillary products, which are arriving just in time for Christmas. Let’s start with the products!
The Candy Perfume Boy 