No. 22(1922)

Created by Ernest Beaux as a companion to Chanel No. 5, No. 22 shares its predecessor's aldehydic opening but built around neroli rather than ylang-ylang, moving through a heart of rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, and ylang-ylang, and closing on vanilla, musk, and sandalwood. Beaux reportedly developed it from the same family of aldehydic trial formulas that produced No. 5, offering a brighter, more overtly floral counterpart to the earlier fragrance's more abstract character. Its number continues the same plain, modernist naming convention Chanel had established with No. 5, reinforcing the house's deliberate break from evocative or flowery fragrance titles. Though it never achieved the same commercial dominance as No. 5, it remains part of Chanel's historic catalog and is periodically revived in various formulations. It illustrates how the aldehydic overdose technique that made No. 5 revolutionary could be applied to different underlying floral architectures.