Chanel No 5 Formula

Haha can't be done. I don't think there's such a thing as "knowing the formula" for a fragrance.

It's best not to try and duplicate an iconic fragrance like that. Even if you had the formula you would not likely be able to get the same quality ingredients. It would probably cost you more to make it than to buy it.

just buy it if chanel no.5 is what you want. get the eau de toilette, which stays closest to the original.

if you want to make chanel no.5 yourself, my question is, how many birthdays can your mom wait? because it will take you some years to get close. and it still won't be the same.

i've seen some amateur formulas of chanel no.5 around, but most of them made me laugh just looking at them. the real formula is of course a secret. and even if you had it, you would still need a professional perfumer to reformulate, because you don't have access to the same resources that chanel has.

sorry.

Whilst Im inclined to agree with my colleagues who say that if you want Chanel 5 then you need to buy it, I dont quite agree that it is impossible to get a formula that is worth using as a starting point if you want to make something similar for your mum.

So, with that in mind:

The Perfumers Apprentice site includes a formula for Chanel 5, which whilst not identical to the production formula is similar and intended for practice and learning. They will of course also sell you all the ingredients, which in turn will prove far more expensive than just buying a bottle of the real thing, so its only worth doing if you want to play about with it in a spirit of creativity.

Neroli -- 5
Linalool -- 30
Bergamot Terpeneless ( can very nicely substitute Master's Bergamot Blend)-- 20
aldehyde C 10, 10% -- 20
aldehyde C 11, 10 percent -- 20
MNA 10% -- 20
Ylang Ylang -- 35
Jasmine absolute (can nicely substitute Jasmine Blend*) -- 50
Oak Moss 10% (great substitute is Oak Moss Blend*) -- 15
civic tincture 10% (can substitute Civet Blend*) -- 25
musk tincture 3% (substitute Animalid*) -- 200
Orris concrete 10% -- 10 (can substitute Alpha Ionone)
Storax resin 10% -- 10
vanilla tincture 10% -- 100
Rose absolute (can substitute Rose blend* )-- 10
Methyl Ionone -- 50
Ionone alpha -- 10
patchouli 1% -- 50
Sandalwood (can very nicely substitute Sandalwood Blend*)-- 10
vetiveryl acetate (could substitute vetiver)-- 10
coumarin -- 50
hydroxy citronellal -- 20
methyl iso eugenol -- 20
ambrettolide -- 20
musk ketone -- 40
ambergris tincture -- 50 (or substitute Cetalox 5%)
DEP or IPM or DPG - 100

There are other versions of the formula that have been published over the years, including this one on a Russian website. It will undoubtedly be a knock-off: Ive not made it myself, but a blogger who has described it as a pale ghost of Chanel 5. . .

Chanel 5
1.\tLinalool 5.0
2.\tBenzylacetate 15.0
3.\tWoody Type Aldehyde 5.0
4.\tAldehyde C11 10% 1.0
5.\tAldehyde C12 10% 1.0
6.\tAldehyde C12 MNA 10% 1.0
7.\tYlang-ylang oil 5.0
8.\tPhenylEthyl Alcohol 5.0
9.\tOakmoss 10% 1.5
10.\tGalbanum oil 6.0
11.\tStyrax oil 0.2
12.\tAurantine 0.2
13.\tLabdanum resinoid 1.0
14.\tMethyl Ionone 3.0
15.\tIonone pure 100% 3.0
16.\tPatchouli oil 0.5
17.\tcoumarin 1.0
18.\thydroxycitronellol 5.0
19.\tisoeugenol 1.0
20.\tAmyl Cinnamic Aldehyde 5.0
21.\tBenzylsalicylate 10.0
22.\tMusk Ambrette 10.0
23.\tMusk Ketone 5.0
24.\tClary sage oil 0.1
25.\tDihydromyrcenol 10.0


There is rather fuller formula that was published in a German book and purports to be the real thing, but again probably isnt - Im reluctant to post that here though for copyright reasons - so far as I know it isnt available on the web.

The differences between the two above gives a good indication of the difficulty of copying a well known perfume, even with the aid of a published formula.

Or Check out Liu by Guerlain which is supposedly Jacque Guerlain's take on Channel No.5

Hello! Mr. Bartlett why in the first formula is mentioned "DEP or IPM or DPG ". What will they offer to the perfume?
Also is it true that dep is forbidden or maybe only allowed in tiny amount? I read Le Male perfume had 1% or maybe 2% of that and they had to reformulate it. Thank you!

In this case they are just solvents being used as fillers in the formula - because it is traditional to make the formula add up to 1000.

Sometimes some of these, particularly IPM or DPG will be used as fixatives - of the two I think IPM is better - but in this case they are not serving any real purpose except to keep the formula tidy.

DEP has been prohibited in Japan for many years and there are restrictions in some other countries, but it is not completely banned anywhere else as far as I know. Some people are worried about pthalates though and so it isnt a good idea to use it just as a filler.

You can make your dilutions with ethanol. The working % is up to you. I like to use 10% with 1% for very smelly things.
What do you actually have?