Joy Jean Patou Eau de Parfum

Bottle Design:
Louis Süe, Lutz Herrmann

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7.4 / 10 103 Ratings

A perfume by Jean Patou for women. The release year is unknown. The scent is floral-animal. It was last marketed by Designer Parfums.

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Main accords

Floral

Animal

Spicy

Green

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Rose

Green notes

Tuberose

Ylang-ylang

Aldehydes

Peach

Heart Notes

Jasmine

Rose

Lily of the valley

Orris root Orchid

Orchid

Base Notes

Civet

Musk

Sandalwood

Perfumer

Henri Alméras

Ratings

Scent

7.4103 Ratings

Longevity

7.683 Ratings

Sillage

7.185 Ratings

Bottle

8.281 Ratings

Value for money

7.135 Ratings

Submitted by Sniffer, last update on 06/06/2025.

Variant of the fragrance concentration

This is a variant of the perfume Joy (Parfum) by Jean Patou, which differs in concentration.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Joy (1984) Eau de Toilette

Joy Parfum

Eau de Joy

Vetifleur

Byzance (1987) Eau de Toilette

Jasmin Eau de Parfum

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/04/2021

6
Pricing 8
Bottle 8
Sillage 9
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Kurai
388 Reviews

Kurai

Very helpful Review 3

Heartbreaking

Wow, such elegant green and white floral, that opens with an extravagant floral bouquet and ends with a feline purrrr.

Joy sure knows how to make a dramatic entrance. She is upper class, high maintenance.
I'm in love with Joy, but she doesn't even know I exist. I'm just an average guy.
Joy and me? That's like a diamond ring on a monkey's finger. Way out of my league. So sad.

Joy herself has been dealt an even more unfortunate fate, though. Due to regulations, commercial takeovers and consequential reformulations, the once so beautiful young goddess has turned into a nagging old witch. Vile and damaged beyond repair. Breaks my heart. Once more.

07/31/2017

Germanblonde
85 Reviews

Germanblonde

Helpful Review 2

The most ladylike perfume I've ever experienced

This review is for the pure perfume in the black bottle! When I was in my early 20's I was a huge fan of the French actor Pierre Brice. I read everything about him I could get my hands on, and in an interview he stated that he loved the smell of Joy by Jean Patou on the women he dated.

Joy was his favorite perfume, and the one he gifted to the various beautiful women he dated in his life. I just wanted to smell like a woman he would adore. So I went to a posh perfume store in Hamburg and bought a tiny bottle of the real perfume for a whopping 300 German Marks. A lot of money, especially way back then.

Well I took it out on a date with my boyfriend (who later became my husband). He made no comment. But when he went into the bathroom, a gentleman who was in the same cocktail bar for a business seminar with a bunch of other men, came over to me, fell on his knees, took my hand and sighed :"Your perfume is just intoxicating!" Well, that was a real validation for me. My future husband came out of the bathroom, and needless to say it was the first jealousy related encounter we had in our relationship. Later on in our relationship my boyfriend/husband always brought me Joy from his business trips, because of this incident it was the only perfume I liked that he could remember.

Now I just own the eau de perfume version, and it just isn't the same. It is way harsher than the darling in the black bottle. I noticed this perfume is now way more affordable through Ebay than what I paid for it almost 30 years ago. So I might splurge and get me a bottle again - even if it is just for old times' sake. This perfume draws the attention of classy, sophisticated men (Shoot, no wonder that my deceased husband didn't react to it way back when we just started dating - no pun intended!). But seriously, this is the most ladylike perfume I ever experienced, and classy men will notice it and you right away.

06/04/2025

6
Bottle 6
Sillage 6
Longevity 9.5
Scent

kittea
63 Reviews

kittea

3

The platonic ideal of a perfume

Richly-textured, heavy on the florals, just a giant lush bouquet. This is the most archetypical 'perfumey' perfume ever made. If you could somehow go through time and pick a thousand people from all across the last century, and you asked them to describe their idea of a woman's perfume, and then averaged all the responses, you'd get Joy.

Does that mean I'm saying it's boring? No, not really. Remember, those people are describing the idea of a perfume, not a perfume that truly exists (except it does exist, and it's Joy). The Platonic ideal of a thing is rare if not impossible to find in nature, and therefore unique— especially now, when the current trends in perfumery are very different from what Joy brings to the table.

Personally, I don't perceive this as animalic at all. I suppose it is, in the same way that jasmine can be, but it's more floral than anything.

09/21/2024

8
Pricing 10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Sarkis
3 Reviews

Sarkis

2

Timeless masterpiece

Timeless masterpiece! Hard to be understood by the new generations, I think JOY is first if all an experience. But
a special one, it needs patience and some culture level. Every day, the women who wear this are indeed a spectacular apparition. Dramatic, sarcastic, provocative, lovable, and after all... unexpected and not with an "every time" happy end... Like a true story! Definitely, not for everyone. If JOY was an actress in other life, it was for sure Greta Garbo. A "mask" of joy that can hide a drama, a tear or a moment of waiting long as an eternity. A diiferent kind of joy.

09/01/2020

6
Sillage 6
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Melisse2
24 Reviews

Translated Show original

Melisse2

Top Review 37

Adé Joy, make way for a new edition

Yesterday, the Fleuri blog prompted me to do a parallel test of the current EdP with a vintage EdT, of which a lovely perfume fortunately sent me a sample. Thanks a lot for this.

I'd like to say something else, but: Joy is rightfully employed. Anyway, the shadow left by this fragrance with a great past.

This old eau de toilette will delight you with a bouquet of flowers, in which the duo of rose and jasmine is particularly dominant. Lily-of-the-valley remains discreetly in the background, the other flowers of the pyramid I can't even perceive individually. This wonderful floral scent is accompanied by soft citrus notes and soft aldehydes. Very gently a breath of civet blows over, which does not let any urinary associations arise for me. I read "dirty soap" somewhere around here. I think that's it. Zibet, in much smaller doses than in Jicky, brings a little wickedness to this wonderfully gentle soap. I find Poliboy furniture polish a bit trite. But I can't express better how the flower melange blends into a breathtakingly beautiful, slightly waxy fragrance with a distinct vintage character. What do I consume now after a few more drops of this EdT, not to mention higher concentrations.

The current eau de parfum on the other wrist shows only superficial similarities: It's also a soapy floral scent.
But I smell mostly lilies of the valley. Lily of the valley even more than jasmine. In my opinion, an attempt has been made here to compensate for the impression of civilization with lilies of the valley. Synthetic civet might have been better, but I have no idea.
And yes, the rose is gone. So is the softness. Instead, more of a harsh curd soap impression without polish and without minimal residual sweetness. No refinement
Now my disappointment may also be due to the fact that I have problems with lilies of the valley anyway. Friends of lily of the valley may also enjoy the new fragrance, which is now being discontinued, with its lovely facets. In any case, I will not bunkering any fragrances in the current version.

Instead, I hope that Dior will one day have a "Joy. Eau de Toilette Originale" Well, Miss Dior has one. It would be good if they didn't try our patience until 2035

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