Bottle Design:
Louis Süe, Lutz Herrmann

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Joy Jean Patou 1935 Parfum

7.6 / 10 233 Ratings

A popular perfume by Jean Patou for women, released in 1935. The scent is floral-animal. The longevity is above-average. It was last marketed by Designer Parfums.
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Main accords

Floral

Animal

Powdery

Green

Spicy

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

7.6233 Ratings

Longevity

8.6164 Ratings

Sillage

7.9148 Ratings

Bottle

8.3156 Ratings

Value for money

8.527 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet · last update on 01/27/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Interesting Facts

Created in 1930 by Henri Alméras, the Fragrance from 1931 was privately distributed to the Clientele. In 1935 official Launch.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Joy Eau de Parfum

Joy Parfum Solide

Joy de Bain Perfumed Body Mist

Joy (1935) Eau de Toilette

Cabriole Parfum de Toilette

Eau de Joy

Reviews

29 in-depth fragrance descriptions

06/22/2012

8Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Coutureguru
237 Reviews

Coutureguru

Top Review 11

Right now, right here!!

SEX ... sex for breakfast, sex for lunch and sex for tea!!! Joy is sex in a bottle!! Raunchy, forbidden sex in the alleyway of a nightclub with someone you just met and didn't bother to ask a name! The aldehydes and tuberose on top are a primal scream with the civet, adding a frisson of freshly worn jockstrap not far behind! Pearls and pumps my ass :o) ... Joy is hedonistic and wanton and so so NOW!!! It strays, like it's hard to come by sister 1000, into masculine floral territory ... I'd love to smell this on some big butch rugger bugger! Automatic panty drop. In fact ... point me in the direction of the nearest rugby team ...

08/27/2013

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 13

patou joy

I've written and mentioned this a few times recently, so I suppose I'm trying to prove a point to myself: I don’t view my life as a narrative. I suppose this is one reason that, although I'm very emotional about perfume, I'm not terribly romantic about it. To call memory a reflection of experience gives memory too much weight. The reflected image suggests a more clarity than memory can offer. Memory is more a filter than a reflection.

The perceived jump from experience to memory is quick, yet in that instant so much editing occurs that I can’t call memory anything other than fiction.

When I think of Jean Patou Joy, I think of my mother. When she was a very young woman, her brother brought her a bottle when he returned from from France and the 2nd World War. She kept it until I suppose we all lost track of it somewhere in the past dozen years. I remember that she wore it very occasionally and that otherwise it sat in a box in a drawer. I loved the scent of that Joy. I imagine I loved it more than my mother did, yet the perfume and the story were both hers.

I have my own bottle of Joy and despite the fictions of memory, reformulation of perfume, and all the years, I still think of my mother when I open the bottle. This sort of memory is more pensive than visceral yet it's very important to me. I suppose you never know where you'll to find the big Rosebud moments in your memory, and I never thought the bottle of Joy would sweep me up and carry me away. But I'll tell you where the moment found me.

My mother is living with very advanced dementia. She hasn't been able to speak to me in years. Early in her dementia I used to talk with her by phone as often as I could, though we lived on opposites coasts of the US. Most of these phone discussions were about nothing in particular but only as she grew unable to carry on these conversations did I realize how important those small ways of keeping in touch were.

Clearing out some papers last week I found a couple of folded sheets of paper that for God knows what reason I printed out years ago. The contents of these papers were a compilation of four or five emails back and forth between me and my mother where she was asking me about a recipe for tofu that my partner David had. I laughed until I cried and knew that Marguerite would have, too. What could be more ridiculous than a decade-old string of emails about tofu? But here she was. I heard her voice, her laugh. I remembered.

So my lesson about memory and how wonderfully little control I have over it is to wear the perfume and relish the emails.

from scent hurdle.com

10/06/2014

8Scent 10Longevity 10Sillage

Tessa
83 Reviews

Tessa

Helpful Review 7

Don't push me!

For the last few days I kept watching Joy. I saw the initial sparkling laugh, all stemming from the trumpets of gorgeous flowers and I felt pushed to smile because it was like asking me to share the Joy. My smile disappeared and so did the sparkling laugh. And there was another try, another laugh, less sparkling this time around and it pushed me again: C'mon girl, share my Joy! Don't you see the trembling little heads of the Lily-of -the -valley ,like delicate bells, calling for your smile?
No, I cannot smile because there is something bitter deep under your laugh. Do not try to entice me, for I can see, beyond your Joy, the tears of sadness.

02/06/2012

5Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Missk
1350 Reviews

Missk

Very helpful Review 5

Royal roses that tend to be fussy in terms of skin chemistry

It was Joy by Jean Patou's allure and greatness that urged me to accept a very generous sample from a friend when it was so kindly offered to me. Being the scent of choice for almost 80 years to various celebrities and members of the royal family, Queen Elizabeth II herself, I was expecting to be blown away by this fragrance's luxuriousness.

The first time this fragrance touched my skin, let's just say it was a nightmare. Could I honestly smell a child's bedroom after they had wet the bed? I was absolutely horrified to say the least. After a few minutes, Joy dried down to something very metallic and harsh on my skin, like rusted metal or the scent of steel wool rusting ever so slowly on the side of the kitchen sink. It then rounded off into a hay stack type smell. Very country, but nothing like the described notes.

I was game enough to test again, however this time on a piece of card, rather than on my skin. I now understand why so many like this fragrance. Joy is rich and floral, (as you would expect from 10600 flowers and dozens of roses in the composition). I'll agree that the scent is mature, but certainly not old lady.

The opening is a strong dose of powdered roses. Very much like the classic English Rose scented talcum powder by Yardley. Tuberose and jasmine do feature quite a bit, however the rose and aldehydes like to dominate the composition.

Joy is very extravagant to my nose. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing this unless I was surrounded by gold and red velvet fashioned chairs and wearing a heavily jewelled crown on my head. This is indeed a fragrance fit for a queen, but not really suited to a plain, old, Aussie girl like myself.

In terms of sillage, Joy is a big one. More than 3 sprays and I think everyone in a close vicinity would be gasping for air. Take that as a warning. Joy isn't a scent to mess with. This is a straight-up conservative floral with a touch of royalty.

07/01/2017

10Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

AFreimann
24 Reviews

AFreimann

Very helpful Review 4

Joy de Jean Patou: Class in a bottle.

Upon first smelling this fragrance, I knew immediately why Joy is the 2nd best selling parfum of all time (beaten out by one fragrance alone, Chanel No.5). Apparently, I'm not alone in my love of this opulent, blooming elixir.
I detect literally ZERO civet, nothing animalic or even close to it; Joy, at least the Eau de Parfum, is a vibrant, blooming, extremely-clean symphony of jasmine and roses, period.
Perhaps those for whom Joy smells of anything but the 10600 jasmine blooms + 28-dozens of roses have a biochemical issue with Joy; I have that issue myself with other perfumes and can sympathize. Due to it's price, I'd recommend buying a wee sample first if you don't know how your body responds.
For those of us who can wear it, though, Jean Patou's Joy is pure magic!

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