The Power of Perfume

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The Power of Perfume - by Stuart Emmrich/ Fashion & Style/ Global Shopper/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

...That’s the power of perfume. It can be something dabbed on for a night’s adventure, never to be repeated again, or it can be an indelible part of one’s identity, recalled decades later with bracing clarity..."

I remember fondly receiving perfumed-letters from my girlfriend when I was in the USAF in the mid-60's. What a thrill it was to receive them. It added another dimension to reading her thoughts.

The salesroom at Buly 1803 is a reproduction of the original shop. Credit Agnes Dherbeys for The New York Times


Richard

 

[Blues]

Do any of the female readers here (or male, for that matter) remember Joy? I recall it as being a very popular perfume. Well, we went to Paris a few weeks ago, and my 90 year old mother-in-law instructed us to purchase some there for her, as it's her perfume and she could no longer buy it in the states.

So, DW & I went to Galleries Lafayette, probably the biggest and highest-end retailer in Paris. 8 stories tall. Their perfume section must have covered nearly 1/2 an acre. No Joy. One of the older salesladies remembered it, and said they hadn't carried it for years. The requester had to be pretty old to remember it, she said.

In the end, the only place in Paris (and perhaps the world?) that we could get it was the single Jean Patou outlet in Paris. Just a tiny storefront near the Place de la Concorde. 300 Euros for 1/2 ounce! Ouch! But MIL should reimburse it.

I guess perfumes go in and out of fashion, just like, um, fashion.

Bob

 

[Passepartout]

Our olfactory center in our brains is one of the most powerful memory triggers we have.

Yup, fragrances come and go. My DW has used Chanel #19 as her 'trademark' scent. Her boys (now in their 40's) clearly associate it with her. Me....Meh. So when we travel, the search is on. We can find the watered down Eau de Toilette, but the perfume is getting difficult to find and expensive. The 'travel' metal sprayer, we haven't seen in years. I thought I could wean her off that fragrance, as it didn't do that much for me anyway and be darned if the Estee Lauder fragrance I liked wasn't discontinued as well. So it goes.

 

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Do any of the female readers here (or male, for that matter) remember Joy? I recall it as being a very popular perfume. Well, we went to Paris a few weeks ago, and my 90 year old mother-in-law instructed us to purchase some there for her, as it's her perfume and she could no longer buy it in the states.

So, DW & I went to Galleries Lafayette, probably the biggest and highest-end retailer in Paris. 8 stories tall. Their perfume section must have covered nearly 1/2 an acre. No Joy. One of the older salesladies remembered it, and said they hadn't carried it for years. The requester had to be pretty old to remember it, she said.

In the end, the only place in Paris (and perhaps the world?) that we could get it was the single Jean Patou outlet in Paris. Just a tiny storefront near the Place de la Concorde. 300 Euros for 1/2 ounce! Ouch! But MIL should reimburse it.

I guess perfumes go in and out of fashion, just like, um, fashion.

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'm not familiar with Joy Perfume. Your post made me curious, and I found this interesting Wikipedia Link that gives it's history and why it's so expensive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_(perfume)

Your MIL should be very pleased.


Best regards,

Richard

 

[DaveNV]

I worked for a fragrance oil manufacturing company for several years, and learned a lot about perfumery from one of the company owners, the cosmetic chemist who had designed more than 3500 different formulas. His nose was amazing, and he made a lot of great products. Sadly, he died in a home accident several years ago, and the company has since gone out of business.

One of things he taught me is that your sense of smell does go directly to the memory center of the brain (as Jim stated above), and it is your only sense that goes directly to the brain, and not through a relay station in your body like all your other senses do. Smell is a powerful sense. But because of that, the reason you like or dislike a scent is because you REMEMBER whether you like or dislike it. This is the magic behind baking cookies or bread right before a home showing if you're selling your house. It triggers memories of love and good times at Grandma's house for potential buyers.

He also said some perfumes are very complex formulas, designed to be eternally desirable, like Chanel #5, and will never go out of production. But a lot of perfumes are designed to have a shorter lifespan, such as some of the "designer" scents on the market that have celebrity names attached. They are popular for awhile, but quickly fade from the market, to be replaced by another simplistic perfume with another celebrity name. The trick, he said, is to find a timeless scent that won't go off the market, that will always speak to you as your signature scent.

Your MIL, Bob, is one of those lucky people who found "her" scent, and will literally search the world to find more of it. Sadly, a lot of less-educated folks will fall for the scent du jour at the perfume bar of the local mall anchor store. They'll smell like everyone else, until the winds of popularity change, and they drift off to follow the next trendy scent on the market.

Kudos to you for finding some Joy, and all for the benefit of someone else.

Dave

 

[CarolF]

So, DW & I went to Galleries Lafayette, probably the biggest and highest-end retailer in Paris. 8 stories tall. Their perfume section must have covered nearly 1/2 an acre. No Joy. One of the older salesladies remembered it, and said they hadn't carried it for years. The requester had to be pretty old to remember it, she said.

In the end, the only place in Paris (and perhaps the world?) that we could get it was the single Jean Patou outlet in Paris. Just a tiny storefront near the Place de la Concorde. 300 Euros for 1/2 ounce! Ouch! But MIL should reimburse it.

I guess perfumes go in and out of fashion, just like, um, fashion.

Bob

I was intrigued by your post. I'm not "pretty old" and I know Joy perfume very well. It is readily available here in Australia and Jean Patou also lists numerous US outlets. The Galleries Lafayette in Paris doesn't stock any Jean Patou perfumes, perhaps that explains the sales person response .

I'm so pleased that you were able to help your MIL.

http://www.jeanpatou.com/where-to-buy/?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/JeanPatouParis

 

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Jean Patou

Joy Baccarat Pure Parfum, Limited Edition
An exclusive luxury fragrance for exceptional women—only 50 limited-edition inscribed Baccarat Pure Parfum bottles are created each year for Jean Patou Joy.

During two short weeks in summer, several kilos of blossoms are harvested from the Jean Patou flower fields in Grasse to achieve the 10,600 flowers required for just one bottle of Joy perfume. Jean Patou was the first designer to use his initials as a logo, presaging the monogrammed designer labels of today.

A floral bouquet of Bulgarian rose, Ylang-Ylang, Tuberose and Grasse Jasmine, the scent is a timeless masterpiece in simplicity.
About Jean Patou:
In 1912, Jean Patou opened a dressmaking salon in Paris named Maison Parry. Then war interrupted his career. In 1919, he reopened his salon under his own name to great success. In 1925, he launched his perfume collection: Amour-Amour (for brunettes), Que Sais-je (for blondes), and Adieu Sagesse (for redheads). In 1931 he introduced Joy, which is still treasured as one of the world's great perfumes. Today, the name Jean Patou is globally renowned for the entire collection of fragrances.

Jean Patou Joy Baccarat Pure Parfum, Limited Edition
$1,800.00 - at Neiman Marcus

The Limited Edition is not the Joy Bob was describing - that would be Joy Pure Parfum - $600 for 30ml or $350 for 0.5 oz

You can also buy Joy Eau de Parfum at $110 for 1.0 fl. oz.


Richard

 

[CarolF]

The Limited Edition is not the Joy Bob was describing - that would be Joy Pure Parfum - $600 for 30ml or $350 for 0.5 oz

Richard

Bob could surely inform his MIL that her perfume is probably fresher than a US import and he also got a 10% discount. Well done Bob.

 

[Blues]

Thanks for the research and the kudos, everyone. So it appears that Joy is indeed available here. I suspect that MIL checked a few of her favorite retailers, didn't find it, and decided it was easier to send us to the source. Happy to oblige. We took our 12 year old granddaughter to Paris with us, and I think it was a grand adventure for her to do something for her great grandmother. All is well. Oh, and it wasn't a 10% discount. At current exchange rates, 300 Euro is about $335. But again, all is well. We had a grand time looking around for it. And I'm enjoying this TUG discussion on it. Thanks, everyone.

Bob