Dior Gives Me Joy

Joy in Hand

Actually my sister gave my mom Joy and my mom gave me Joy. I don't know if this is just my family, but we often give each other perfumes so we rarely buy perfumes for ourselves. I have bought a few perfumes for myself, however, and I think that is how it should be despite this long-held 'tradition' of ours.

Anyway, my sister bought Dior Joy for my mom for her birthday. The bottle had been sitting there on her dresser for months until I happened to see it and asked if she had tried it. She said it was a ‘young’ fragrance, too young for her and offered it to me. I have since bought my mom another perfume although much less expensive than Joy, but it’s a fragrance that she likes and uses and I've got a RM400 perfume that she doesn't wear, so everyone’s happy.

Back to Joy, I fell in love from the very first time I smelled it, from the opening to its drydown. For reference, I always spray my perfume on my clothes. I have sensitive skin. So I smell the perfume as it is without any interaction with my skin, which is the way I like with any perfumes.

Smell of Joy

I don't have the sophistication of a perfumer when it comes to detecting a scent. I simply love this fragrance without knowing much of the make-up of the scents. I don't quite know which individual scents that I like. Maybe and most obviously the blend of all of the notes that come together and somehow that, combined with all of the notes I have collected in my memory throughout my life, somehow clicked. All I can say is that I don't find this soapy or lemony or citrusy as some Fragrantica reviewers do. I don't detect rose but I do agree that it's a bit powdery, which I love. I find the opening pleasingly sharp and the drydown soothingly sharp with soft edges with a tinge of classic. I think I can smell Jasmine and there is one note which I absolutely love but which I don't know how to describe and can't name. I wish I knew what it is.

I usually use one spray with any perfume and with this it's no different. Like I said I spray it on my clothing and Joy stays for roughly 24 hours. I can still smell it faintly at a distance after tossing my clothes in the laundry basket the next day.  

Old or Young or Girly

Unlike Washwashah which reminded me of a classic perfume but which, at the same time, I think quite timeless and rather fresh, I find Joy rather young, fresh and contemporary. For some reason, despite the pink colour, I don't find it girly. It is feminine in a non-girly way. Let's put it this way, I tend to like fresh perfumes which are not what people might call 'sweet'. I like men's perfumes on men and on me. I do wear them sometimes, the perfumes I mean. I find that Joy is a compromise between that end of the spectrum and this end of the spectrum, but not unisex.

Before I go, I need to mention the much loved [by me] magnetic cap that closes with a definitive snap. So satisfying.

Also, they say this smells like Chanel Allure. That would be an interesting one to try.