Joy (1930)
by Jean Patou

On me, Joy is simply and warmly beautiful. I do have "sweetening" chemistry, so the civet which sends other wearers running to the bath/shower doesn't dominate the florals when I wear it. I get rose, of course, and jasmine, and yes, civet (delicately), among other things; but teasing apart the notes in Joy feels a bit like pulling the golden threads out of an Oriental brocade...I don't really want to analyze it, which seems almost boorish somehow. I just want to enjoy it, which is the same feeling I have for Shalimar. It is one of the richest perfumes I've worn, even more than some of the Amouage line. It's not an in-your-face kind of richness that chokes the air out of the room for those sensitive to perfume---even my father, who has asthma, was not bothered. It does, however, surround the person wearing it with a gentle cloud of loveliness. And, yes, it's quite sensual. This is one of those classic perfumes which is rightfully lauded as such; like Shalimar or other older greats, Joy is possessed of a complex, lasting gorgeousness that is timeless.

10th November, 2011.

i used to love this perfume. smelled gentle and pretty. great for the young girl i was i suppose. either they changed the formula or my skin changed. i'm inclined to the latter. it's nice, but slightly generic smelling for my tastes. there are fragrances with much better bang for your buck.

30th October, 2011.

This is another disappointing perfume for me unfortunately. I absolutely love the smell of Joy in the bottle. It's a gorgeous smelling fragrance on it's own for sure, but when I put it on my skin the notes just don't come across the same way! The version I'm wearing is the EDP. When I first put it on I still thought it seemed pretty nice. But after about ten minutes or so (when the actual heart notes start to "come out") I noticed that the fragrance started to smell vaguely like latex or rubber mixed with sweet flowery notes. In fact, I have to say that the floral notes in this perfume don't really come across smelling like natural flowers very much. This fragrance is very synthetic. I know a lot of perfumes smell very synthetic, including a number of ones that I've already said I liked, and I don't mean to contradict myself. This one just seems a little too synthetic to me though. The "latex" smell (whatever it is) is just too obvious. So, unfortunately, Joy is not for me. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

14th October, 2011.

This was my sister's favorite perfume. As a matter of fact when I got married I forgot to perfume myself with my signature scent, Shalimar, and my sister put her Joy on me. This is a very sentimental perfume for me.

I recently was given a sampler of Joy EDT and liked it. So I bought a vintage bottle of Joy which I discovered was just okay to me. Today I compared them wearing one on one wrist and one on the other. I can't see a lot of difference at first except the Joy EDT was more wearable to me as it was slightly lighter. My husband thinks the EDT smells like soap. An hour later the EDT was gone and the Joy had reached a beautiful depth. So, I have to recommend my vintage Joy perfume over the more recent EDT.

That being said, I will always like this but I will never love it the way I do some other perfumes.

8th September, 2011.

Joy opens on my skin as a powerful generic white floral (what I might identify as gardenia, based on a lifetime of smelling candles and body lotions called 'gardenia'), a strong, indolic jasmine, and a subtle rose that gets comes forward over time.

I don't tend to like white florals, so Joy had the cards stacked against it from the start. I will say that I don't dislike Joy as much as I have disliked other classic white florals (Amariage, L'Heure Bleue) but...well...I don't like it.

The civet? or something takes on an element of bug spray about 15 minutes in, but this does not provide any relief from the monster gardenia/jasmine combo. It smells to me hopelessly, unsalvageably dated (other scents smell dated to me and yet are still interesting - this, for me, is not even that, despite trying to appreciate it on a number of occasions, under different conditions).

It is curious in that it smells extremely powerful when I smell it up close, but stays so close to the skin that I can barely tell it is on my arm if it is a couple of feet away.

28th August, 2011.

Most beautiful fragrance. reminds me a little of Ysatis?
Energetic opening bursting with peachy adelhydes,
quickly softens to a gentle flowery heart of ylang ylang and roses.
This fragrance continues to develop into a delicious sandalwood with the merest hint of civet which helps to deepen and keep the heart of this alive. Teamed with the base is just to die for!
Love my sample, will be buying a bottle asap

14th June, 2011.