Dior – Joy eau de parfum review

Joy is the newest perfume of French fashion brand Dior that appeared in our stores in September 2018. Announced as a fragrant interpretation of light, just like Chanel Gabrielle, this perfume has more than one thing in common with that perfume. Dior is telling us that Joy offers a unique feeling of joy through a pointillism technique where the richness of scent is built through the abundance of scent facets, nicely tuned for the ultimate impression.

Fresh bergamot and mandarin explode in unison with flowers. The absolute of Gras Rose mixes with the fruit notes in a vibrant smile. Warm and creamy sandalwood hugs you gently. An intimate signature, pure and powdery musk creates the soft feeling of touching skin.

This is how Dior describes the biggest perfume flop since Chanel Gabrielle, exactly a year ago. “There are no words that could describe Joy. You just have to try it.” I couldn’t agree more, as there are no words that can describe how bad it is, how prosaic, plain, uninspirational… should I continue?

Chimera is a mythical creature from the Ancient Greek mythology made out of parts of different animals. The body of a lion, the head of a goat and a snake’s tail. It spat fire on innocent passers-by. Dior Joy is a perfume chimera made out of bits and pieces of every successful woman’s fragrance in the past 10 years. The problem is that the mixture, like the chimera, is monstrous and the “fire” you’ll spill on people passing you by will tell the whole world of the “joy of mediocrity.” But it has its advantages – if you run into a person wearing Joy, it will be an instant telltale sign that before you stands a person that has nothing to offer you in any field.

Perfume composition of Joy is floral wood and musk with dominant notes of musk and rose, rounded with the powdery scent that is kind of fresh, but more tedious and not entirely unpleasant. Like elevator music, the notes are pleasant but you’ll forget them the moment you the elevator door open. If that is your goal, to be a mediocre person easily forgotten, they, by all means, wear Joy.

Dior’s goal was not to make a perfume that Dior fans will like. The goal, and that is another similarity with Chanel Gabrielle, is to make a perfume that will attract as many young girls as possible, girls that move from Zorannah perfumes to the more “serious” ones. In a way, it smells like Zorannah perfume, although it is two times better and 10 times expensive. Welcome to the consumer world of grown-ups where they treat you like mindless consumers and where they sell you sugar water for 100 Euros. And just as Kristen Stewart was the face of Gabrielle campaign, the girl that became famous with Twilight saga movies, Joy’s face is Jennifer Lawrence from The Hunger Games fame. The path upon which they are forcing the perfume industry is devastating and how they treat perfume lovers is terrifying. Like they are making perfumes for those who don’t like them. Honestly, if you hate perfumes, you will probably love Joy.

Several years ago, Jennifer Lawrence appeared in a movie called Joy (coincidence?) where she played smart, feisty, ambitious girl building her business empire. If we ignore the fact that a woman like that would never wear a perfume like Joy, there is a line from that movie that came to my mind when I tasted this perfume:

Never, ever think the world owes you favors.

It is true. The world owes us nothing. That is very clear with Joy perfume that, unlike Chanel Gabrielle, even has the ugliest bottle I have ever seen among designer perfumes. My ultimate  Joy verdict: Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful.

Perfume creator is Francois Demachy.