Enjoy (2003)
by Jean Patou

Another fruity - floral: not my favorite category so that should be taken into consideration. Enjoy opens more fruity than floral and there’s a somewhat synthetic feel to the pear and citrus that take prominence for a short time. But a few minutes into the opening, the accord becomes more true… more natural: The accord evens out with the florals establishing more of a presence than they had in the very beginning. The movement into the heart level is smooth and seamless. The middle is a beautifully mixed floral with rose and jasmine presented in a soft but solid accord: By now the fruity elements of the opening are gone and I can enjoy Enjoy. It takes a long time to get to the base – this is a substantial fragrance and it claims its own with no problem. The base is beautiful, too: patchouli for wood combined with musk, vanilla, and amber for sweet and breadth of olfactory emanation.

I like the floral heart the best, but even that seems to be missing the special greatness of the usual run of Patou fragrances. Enjoy is a beautifully competent fragrance, but it doesn’t rise above competence. I expect more from Patou, but, compared to most fragrances of this sort, and considering my usual standards, I have to admit it probably deserves a thumbs up. Strong fragrance… strong sillage… lasts forever.

I think this is a greatly underrated fragrance. I put it in the same fun, bright, confident and slightly vulgar category as Gucci's Rush. It's very fruity with tropical overtones but anchored by a welcome blast of dry earthy patchouli, which makes it an instant confidence booster suited to bare skin and hot weather. Enjoy is just short of loud on me and, surprisingly, given the alpha nature of its components (banana?), never cloys. it has excellent lasting power and a nice slightly smoky caramel drydown. I emptied a bottle a few summers ago and will probably buy another. (Joy fans be warned: apart from the name, there is no discernible relationship with that grande dame.)

Poor red-headed stepchild! I think EnJoy is unfairly being rated against big sister Joy. I like it. It's very well blended and complex. More "modern", less "perfume-y" smelling than Joy. I find it sweet without being cloying at all. I definitely recommend you give it an honest try before dismissing it.

The notes came out backwards on me. I smelled the floral heart notes first - but that may be because I adore rose and jasmine, and instinctively seek them out in any fragrance. The florals lasted about 45 minutes. Now, an hour later, I smell the top note fruits balanced on the patchouli/musk base. Florals mostly all gone. I get more of a "peach" smell than anything else. Otherwise, I can't really single out a particular fruit, but I don't find any "bananna" note at all. This is a good thing as far as I'm concerned as I was rather dreading that note. Hints of nice vanilla.

I love a perfume that evolves well on me, and this is definitely one of them.

This is my second try, and I'm hooked. While I like big sister better, EnJoy is lovely enough that I'm now looking to buy a bottle. 2 thumbs up!

There is a loveliness to "Enjoy" that's hidden beneath blankets of hedione and cloyingly synthetic berry---you can almost feel the tart and creamy green banana note, struggling against hyper-dry aldehydes in order to reach the surface. I can't help but think "No! That's my favorite part of 'Patou' blends---the banana paste undertone that adds just the right hint of jammy-cream sweetness and honey, without the syrupy-stickiness of it! Don't drown that banana in 'Windex' !" Patou stands apart from other brands by integrating leisure, luxury and lazy-day intimacy into all their blends---"Enjoy" has less of that than the others, conjuring up images of "Victoria's Secret" sensibility and characterless worksuits of the 90's. However, it is, at moments, of a crystalline, chypre quality, reminding me faintly of "Miss Dior Cherie". Other times, "Enjoy" invokes the cool mustiness of a smoker's air conditioned home. Overall, "Enjoy" is pretty, astringent in a vintage face-powder, lipstick and nylons sort of way and not a bad option for people who find the sunshine-baked carnality of other Patou blends, a bit too much to carry off. I can't offer it as a total "thumbs up", as Patou's recent "Sira des Indes" is sensationally delicious and more in tune with the aesthetic sensibility of Patou; Crisp, preppy sportswear with art deco lines, against the hedonistic lushness of exotic destinations and their gourmand delights. If it dosn't smell like an olfactive interpretation of art deco sunbeams or conjure up images of 1920s-30s travel posters, it isn't fully Patou. Thankfully, dry oil and pasty tartness of green banana saves "Enjoy" from being deemed counterfeit.

I consider this my signature scent. The first 1-2 minutes the fragrance is almost cloyingly sweet, but the base notes are gorgeous, subtle and lasts all day. It's a great everyday perfume for me, and I get tons of compliments from both men and women when I wear it. However, I've heard it reacts very different on different people (my friend tried it when she was visiting and had to scrub it off after a few minutes. It smelled like mildewed cedar on her), so I would definitely sample it on yourself before purchasing a bottle.

ENjoy opens as a generally harmless floral, then hints at a heart of richer florals with fruit, but quickly transitions to a drydown that surprises, in a very bad way.

To preface what I'm about to write, please let me first say that I'm quite the fan of animalic notes, even ones that others consider too rude for modern day consumption. however...

The drydown of ENjoy smells dirty. That's right, I said it - DIRTY. It smells of human sweat, and not in a good, sexy way. It smells of human sweat in a stale, covered-up-with-cheap-deodorant kind of way.

The fruit notes that make Sira des Indies so enjoyable are but a mere hint in the opening of ENjoy, and the floral that comes into play is not distinguished, not memorable. Surely this esteemed house could have done better. The drydown fails altogether, with the stink of synthetic musk, really failing to blend. There is no harmony here.

Now I normally adore the "dirty" scents, with Shalimar being at the top of the list, but this - this is just wrong. Done well, animalic aromas whisper "come hither." ENjoy simply mutters "eeuw. go bathe."

Ah well, as they always say - test first, test first, test first.