Bottle Design:
Louis Süe, Lutz Herrmann

See Prices

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Joy Jean Patou Eau de Parfum

7.4 / 10 105 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.
Compare

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

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

7.4105 Ratings

Longevity

7.685 Ratings

Sillage

7.287 Ratings

Bottle

8.383 Ratings

Value for money

7.337 Ratings

Submitted by Sniffer · last update on 01/24/2026.

Source-backed & verified

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

Jasmin Eau de Parfum

Byzance (1987) Eau de Toilette

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/04/2021

7.5Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

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.

Updated on 12/30/2022

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

9.5Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

kittea
65 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

7.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Sarkis
4 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

7.5Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Melisse2
24 Reviews

Translated · Show original

Melisse2

Top Review 37

Goodbye Joy, make way for a reissue

Fleuri's blog prompted me yesterday to conduct a parallel test of the current EdP with a vintage EdT, of which a lovely Parfumo kindly sent me a sample. Thank you for that.

I would like to say something different, but: Joy is rightly being discontinued. At least the shadow that remains of this fragrance with a great past.

The old Eau de Toilette delights with a bouquet where the duo of rose and jasmine predominates. Lily of the valley stays discreetly in the background; I can't perceive the other flowers in the pyramid individually. This wonderful floral scent is accompanied by soft citrus notes and gentle aldehydes. A hint of civet also wafts softly over, which for me does not evoke any urinous associations. I read somewhere that it smells like "dirty soap." I think that captures it. Civet, in much lower dosage than in Jicky, brings a bit of naughtiness to this wonderfully soft soap. I find Poliboy furniture polish a bit crude. But I can't express better how the floral blend merges into a breathtakingly beautiful, slightly waxy scent with a distinct vintage character. How I long for a few more drops of this EdT, not to mention higher concentrations.

The current Eau de Parfum on the other wrist has only superficial similarities: it is also a soapy floral perfume.
But I primarily smell lily of the valley. More lily of the valley than jasmine. In my opinion, there was an attempt here to compensate for the civet impression with lily of the valley. Synthetic civet might have been better, but I'm not a perfumer and have no idea. In any case, the modern scent also stinks, but I am sure: that comes from the lily of the valley.
And yes: The rose is gone. The softness too. Instead, there is more of a harsh soap impression without polish and without minimal residual sweetness. Lacking refinement.

Oh, and the longevity of the vintage EdT is also better than that of the current EdP. All prejudices confirmed.

Now, my disappointment may also stem from the fact that I have problems with lily of the valley anyway. Lily of the valley lovers may find charming facets in the new scent that is now being discontinued. In any case, I will not hoard fragrances in the current version.

Instead, I hope that Dior will eventually release a "Joy. Eau de Toilette Originale." They have done it with Miss Dior as well. It would be good if they don't test our patience until 2035.

Updated on 09/01/2020

More reviews