Heya Posse! In the wake of the new L’Heure Bleue 2026 release by Guerlain I thought we could take a look at Patou’s Joy Forever. When it first came out in 2013 I sneered wholeheartedly at its usurpation of the historic Joy semiology. Plus its complete lack of nearing the same heights of beauty, wit, charm or elegance. I was right, it does not have the right to bear the same name. As a stand alone fragrance though I completely missed how utterly lovely it is.
The same thing happened when CHANEL launched Coco Noir and now Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu. After a febrile advertising deluge hyping the novelty; smelling the offerings has been on all counts a distinct disappointment and felt like they were abusing their own histories. I’ll be interested to see what I think of Crush Absolu in another ten years time. Coco Noir is the un-noir-iest flanker. It should have been called Coco Spring, Coco Party Pash or Coco Riviera. Rant over, apologies if any of my slinging has attacked one of your favourites.
Thomas Fontaine is the creator and you may know him from the Patou Collection Heritage, also a bunch of Le Galion and Lubin releases. March linked to a still available interview with Mr Fontaine about the release and creation of Joy Forever.
My bottle was bought from a friend’s Sale Doc on FB at a very good price BUT you can still find Joy Forever on the discounters for reasonable prices. Mine is the EdP. I bought my mini bottle from FragranceNet. Not affiliated but love how good the prices are and how fast the delivery to Australia is.
Joy Forever EdP by Jean Patou 2013
Feeling Sexy Australia gives these featured accords:
Top: Galbanum, bergamot, mandarin orange
Heart: Marigold, jasmine, rose, orris/iris, orange blossom, apricot
Base: White musk, sandalwood, amber, cedar
Straight out of the gate I smell sparkling tinned apricot and marmalade. While not exactly confectionary, Joy Forever is much sweeter than OG Joy. What IS like its precursor is the beautiful way the bouquet is brought to life. It’s an amorphous, surreal olfactory painting of flowers. I want to say I can smell individuals but as the notes rise and fall I don’t really have time (or the acuity) to note them singly. What I smell really is a floral melange overshadowed by that lovely fruitiness. Here we stay for the longest time.
Heading into dry down the sparkling bouquet and fruitiness continue softly above a watercolor of musky creaminess that hints at sandalwood. It’s pretty but nothing overwhelmingly interesting or groundbreaking. A low key, unexceptional wash of loveliness that makes me smile when I get huffs up my shirt.
Below is the 5ml mini that led to this newfound love. I bought it when LVMH took over Patou and ceased their perfume production, so they could name their own sparkling sweet nothing Joy. Don’t even get me started.
Sillage and longevity are moderate. Aimed towards the feminine side but not nearly as sweet and girly as many of the masculine 2020s niche offerings. I reckon the gents could do a lot worse than Joy Forever.
What do you think? About Joy Forever or flankers bearing no resemblance?
Portia xx
Joy is one of all-time favorites. I smelled JF when it came out and couldn’t get past the jammy orange opening and never went back. I wish to heck I’d purchased a bottle of the real thing before it went away..