Joy parfum is a troubling creature. D had to use pliers this morning to unscrew the broken cap – the red top of whose destiny I will come to later – so I could re-smell it. Phew what a whiff when I laced the back of my hand with its oily tincture so intense it almost smelled like old paint : the jasmine and rose essences boiled down to real civet, lacquered florals and micturous musk a real nose-wrinkler until about 45 minutes later when it began to smell like Familiar Joy. I always think that the knee jerk uncomprehending reaction to a fragrance ‘It’s very strong’ is for the perfume moron I mean newbie, but in this possibly dehydrated’s vintage extrait’s case, it IS too strong.
I needed to update my nose on the original Patou classic in order to be able to properly smell Eau De Joy, a fresher, more aldehydic and florally orchestrated variant released forty years after the original
Joy- in its heyday one of the top three selling perfumes in the world – that I found for ten dollars in that divine black and red that made my heart leap when I saw it on the glass shelf and which now is one of the first things I see when I wake up in the morning. Recently I decided to not just look at it while I drink my tea and read the newspaper but to actually wear it; just a spray on the back of my hand, surprised by how much I didn’t hate it.
Today, in comparison with the inchoate slick on my right hand sheening its chic, but filthy way into my conscious, , Eau De Joy smelled positively divine. Firstly, as the jasmine de grasse and rose de mai are so cleverly attenuated in the aldehydic glacial spritz borne of lily of the valley and a lovely, perceptible tuberose, which I hadn’t overtly noticed before until the side by side experiment – and what smells more like the living jasmine you smell creeping up summer trellises than the amphorae of macerating tinctures kept under lock and key in the dungeons of Patou – the perfume leaps from the skin unbound : vernal, indeed joyful. The musk is much prettier – something about the deep piss of old Joy extraits can induce a unique form of dread – but in this extraordinarily pristine edition there is a delicate, timeless , filigreed femininity that could remind one of Diorissimo, or perhaps Dior Dior.
Yes, in today’s match, Eau is very much the winner. But the parfum is still something I warily venerate. It’s just that this particular bottle has a very repellent anecdote attached to it.
Last year we suddenly became aware of a sweetly repugnant odour at the bottom of the stairs. ??? Was this our cat having another renal issue and not quite making it outside in the middle of the night ? Surely not – it smelled very different : not cassissy and feline, but overpowering, hormonal, malty – utterly utterly foul.
This waxing and waning stench was unfamiliar – and at first we couldn’t come by the source. Eventually the mystery was revealed when one sunny afternoon d heard some alien scratching sounds and to his great surprise saw a large mouse – or was it a rat? – that had made its domicile in a nest of rodential droppings and pilfered cat food behind a big pile of books – pungent as old hell – obviously we threw out all the soiled literature and the bookcase – as well as the very bottle of Joy you see at the top of the page that was part of the mousey’s home ( did it sleep on it at night ? How did it feel about the shiny black flacon and the Patou lettering and the faint traces of rose musk and jasmine that may have seeped out a little from the sealed perfume’s neck ?)
All I know is that d gasped; the cat came running down, the critter escaped when d opened the door (did it make off with the red cap as a memento of its short stay? I never saw it again and I know today’s tale is revolting and I probably should have just tossed out the parfum when it was smothered in mouse musk and wee but somehow I couldn’t : I just screwed down the top very very tight and then washed it precociously until it only smelled of polished Patou and then put it back on a higher shelf.
But how DID THE PATOU GET INTO THE POSSESSION OF THE MOUSE IN THR FIRST PLACE I hear you cry.
Well that is easy. As the clumsiest person in the world I must have knocked it off when lumbering down the stairs one day ( as I write this I am laid up on the sofa after a bicycle accident yesterday where I tore down the hill in the drizzle of the late morning and went skidding and flying off, bashing my cheery and hand and elbow and no ! my left knee ) : I am a dyspraxic fool who shouldn’t be let near anything really, especially vintage Patou perfume.
But we persevere. And we enjoy these old beauties. And by telling you about the ratatouille of wet cat biscuits and reeking mouse dung , you can see why – given the associations – I now vastly prefer the Eau.
I was young when I first sniffed Joy Parfum. Probably early teens. As a fan of Cristalle & Azuree even then, I found the Parfum hideous. When I tried the Eau de Joy it was much more to my taste. Still is. Joy in whatever iteration isn’t something I’ve owned or ever desired. Cancel my perfumista card
EdJ : so much nicer !
You write so vividly. It is a pleasure even when you describe the unspeakable stench of mice!
Thank you. I had not mentioned this story before as it makes us sound just a little bit too much like degraded Grey Gardens living in bohemian slumdom – but thankfully it was just the one mouse and I thought it was time to tell The Story Of The Cap.
I dread and hate falling off a bicycle. Hope you weren’t too badly hurt, especially the knee! I also probably would have washed the bottle instead of throwing it out. Don’t think I’ve ever smelled vintage Joy but remember a coworker wearing a modern version and liking it enough to ask her what it was – I think this was shortly after Dior acquired Joy.
For some reason that delights me – that someone was still wearing Joy and that it worked enough for you to compliment them on it. I have always said that on the right person, Joy is STUNNING; a good edition smells incredible on my mum, for example, whereas a bad one just smells ruinous. With all those animalics and floral absolutes it really is a precarious number.
Re the knee; for the first hour or two of this post I had put a shocking picture of it taken immediately after the accident for added effect but then thought it was a bit gratuitous and gross and so took it down. I LOVE my bike – but yes – do need to be more careful. I really slammed down off it and hit the ground with violence and it was quite a shock – had to have the day off work (a Japanese person wouldn’t have done – but it was a good excuse to just lie on the sofa and watch Netflix).
I still have a bottle of Joy that looks like that. I will have to check it out and smell it again. I also had an unwanted guest visit me one evening when I had just finished cleaning my entire condo. I went back into the dining room to check things out and some big black thing skirted away from me and went behind the stove. I have never had a mouse or rat in this place most likely because I had all those snakes on my patio years ago and snakes eat mice. A friend told me not to be upset as the mouse was probably more scared of me than I was if him. The friend also said that the mouse probably got lost and would eventually go back to his hole in the wall. I have not smelled any odor as yet, but it’s been less than a month since it happened and he still could be hovering behind the stove. I took a long tape measure and ran it up and down my stove to see if anything was there and nothing was. I am hoping the friend was right but who knows when the rodent could strike again.
Hopefully it has somehow just disappeared and you don’t have to think about it again.
I am not rodent-phobic at all personally; I find mice quite cute actually, but the smell made me feel MURDEROUS. I couldn’t believe that such a small creature could produce such a pheremonal stench : it made your gut heave. But so hilarious that in among its pile of muck was a bottle of Joy.
Incidentally, I don’t mind snakes either – quite fascinated by them actually – but how big are we talking? I can’t imagine going outside and bumping into serpents on a regular basis.
Eau no!
Get well soon. X
Yes, two days later still slightly incapacitated; sprained hand and I hit my chest really hard at the time – can you hurt your heart muscle or would it be chest tissue?
Clumsy AF : need to be more careful
thanks e x
As you know I am no medic. I imagine that if you had hurt your heart muscle, you would know about it, and would have severe chest pain and things like shortness of breath. Muscles around the chest sounds more likely. Rest up and hope you feel better soon x
You are right – around the chest and healing x
What a great post, sorry for what triggered it (the bike) but what a joy to read about the Joy and the visitor—“ratatouille of wet cat biscuits and reeking mouse dung “. Fabulous. I have tried and tried an old Joy that belonged to my mother but it’s just too sad; however, this post made me go and buy a bottle of vintage Eau de Joy, as the description was irresistible. Here goes! I’ve just thrown out several legwarmers (yes, I wear them at my desk when working and immobile) that moths have had an utter field day with (and they were brand new alpaca). Those legwarmers must have fed millions of them, judging by the damage. And my bedroom is no Grey Gardens either. Good luck and a speedy recovery, thanks for the entertainment.
Glad you liked it.
Bit worried about the Eau De Joy – so variable ! I think you would probably like this very one but others – particularly in the classic rectangular bottles – don’t always last well. I hope you get a freshie
That’s one helluva scented mouse 😂