Joop! Femme

Being a fan of Joop Homme for all of its metrosexual glory it exudes, I always wondered how the femme version will smell as I had never ever seen it sold in any stores in South Africa, nor was it an easy scent to obtain, i however eventually managed to get a decant sent to me and if testing proved good results I could order a full sized bottle. When my decant arrived i ripped open its packaging and held the the little clear orb it was sent to me in and admired the yellow tinged elixir inside, then seconds later i applied some onto wrist and took the first whiff, to say I was turned away at first smell will be putting it lightly, I recoiled thinking that either the decant is off, or this Joop Femme is just not for me, but i have learned to always let a fragrance sit on your skin before passing full judgement, so i left it to air for five minutes then went in again, and it was then that the magic happened, i fell in love with Joop Femme, i could tell right from then that i was going to love this scent, and boy oh boy i really do. aldehydes, jasmine, rose, orange blossom, coriander, sandalwood, civet, musk, vanilla, amber and patchouli, is basically what i smell in this elixir which makes the entire scent have this nostalgic, dreamy vibe about it. What you smell after the first five minutes is basically what you left with till drydown, just lightening out from an arms length scent to a close proximity scent over its duration. Honestly speaking a guy can surely pull this off as in this day and age, a scent profile like this can pass of easily in the niche market as a unisex fragrance and it would sell extremely well Longevity-8/10 (around 7-8 hours) Sillage- 5/10 ( per my opinion as of now i think its a close encounter scent as i have tested it out twice now and both times in seclusion, so proper sillage still remains to be seen) Scent- 9/10 (With a handful of notes i love in a scent which mixes it so well, how can it get a rating anything below an 8, its a Dreamy creamy concoction that evokes nostalgia whilst standing leagues above the slew of modern candy explosion sugar induced scents) All in all i will give this scent a 9/10 in my books simply because it gets all of my favourite notes into one bottle and does it oh so brilliantly and that too from the house of Joop who in 2021 is regarded to be the makers of cheap fragrances, but whom i time and time again have been impressed by their scents (Joop Homme, Joop Jump, Joop Homme Wild, Joop Go, Joop Homme Absolute, Joop Splash, Joop Wow.) and now their first ever fragrance Joop Femme joins them and lo and behold she takes the number one spot. So next up ordering a full sized bottle or maybe even three of this captivating elixir, even if it does not garner a single compliment i will use it just for me and me alone. P.S- this somehow reminds me of Dolce and Gabbana red cap in a way.

I’m a self confessed vintage lover. Anything from the 80’s and before usually has my full attention. Having been around in the 90’s and early 00’s as a teen gives me the memories and the fun I had. But in retrospect, today, I much prefer the eras before the Calone wave that inundated the world, circa the first half of 1990 boogie. Joop, which is officially from 1987, feels decidedly 1997! But I mean that in a good way! Heavy, padded and coiffed to the 9s it should feel 80’s. But instead, it takes me back to the 90’s, and perfumes like this, Boucheron, D&G Red Cap, Sicily, Addict, Dolce Vita, Rush, Hypnotic Poison, Jungle, Dune...these are some major loves that remind me of my carefree teen years and the fun of the past. Joop is a heavily heavy ambery orange blossom, studded with vanilla and tonka shades amidst warm spicy tones. Its shades of orange/red/brown warm me up like mulled wine. Some perfumes work like specific time machines; I’ve always felt Poeme (it shares a similar albeit gentler olfactive resonance) and Tresor are 8 year old me standing in front of the Lancôme counter. Joop transports me to Christmas shopping. It was so different! It actually felt special! A warm ambiance, Xmas music playing, warming smells anywhere you went, be it chestnuts in street carts, cinnamon potpouri in stores... Joop is a winter scent for me. Underneath the heavy velvet drapes that hide a very vanillic ambery coziness, where orange blossom is so heavy and heady that sometimes feels artificial, where carnation, coriander, sandalwood give it character, all the while gentle aldehydes lift it up...it becomes a comfort scent. One that feels like home and at the same time it cuts through the cold like a hot knife through butter. A sweet oriental or a spicy floriental? It’s perfume with a big fat P. Perfume with presence. Perfume with power. And in the vintage Lancaster bottles, of which I own two, there’s a big fat Sillage and a big fat Longevity. This is the middle finger to Calone; from Germany with love!

Joop! Femme was released when I was 13, and I remember that I was instantly intrigued when I first smelt it. It was the first expensive perfume I'd ever smelt (at that time it was expensive). I really wanted to have a bottle but I couldn't afford it, and a well-meaning aunt thought it was a bit "mature" for a young girl and gifted me a bottle of some fresh unisex Yves Rocher fragrance instead. So I would go and sneak into a perfumery every now and then and spray myself with it and let myself be transported to a glamorous faraway place where, in my imagination, i was leading a glamorous fantasy life. The favourite fragrance was replaced by Trésor when I was 17 (mainly because I was gifted a bottle and had no other perfume), and Jean Paul Gaultier a bit later, but I always had fond memories of Joop! Femme. I sprayed myself with it today when browsing around a drugstore with a designer perfume section, and I was reminded of why I loved this so much. The top notes, that seemed to be so over the top back in the 80ies, were just right now and are not loud at all compared to the usual screamers people are wearing now, be they Xerjoff or Tiziana Terenzi or some cheap dupes. I get mainly soapy aldehydes as a first impression, then the delicate white flowers take the stage. Three hours later I am left with the most amazing drydown, vanilla and amber. The animalic note from the 80ies has been tamed, but it is still beautiful and has nothing in common with the ethylmaltol and ambrocenide syrups of nowadays perfumery. I visited a christmas market earlier and I preferred to sniff my wrist over smelling the mulled wine and sugar-coated almonds. Maybe this is full bottle worthy. Today, it made me really happy.

Got my hands on a vintage splash bottle to compare with it's current formulation, wich i love by the way. Iove this perfume so much! I periodically forget about it but every time i pick it up it's like i am rediscovering it. You could take away every fragrance i own and have me keep just this. I'd be happy as a clam. There is some difference with it's vintage former glory but not significantly so for the untrained nose. The vintage formulation is quite softer, less sharp in the opening. It contains more aldehydes and therefore it projects a lot more so the scent bubble it creates is more grand while at the same time more delicate then it's current self. It's spirit remains the same, the overall scent. It's warm and enviting. Insencey and heady. I feel like today, it is more indolic. Where in the past it was more animalic. Again not something people around you will be able to pick up but in case you are wondering. :) If i had to choose one formula over the other i would't be able to. I am realy glad I've got a vintage one because this perfume in general is realy important to me and i love apreciating it and everything that comes with it. Maybe it's because i was not yet alive during the 80's and therefore have no real association with that era in time, but i don't find this perfume to be extravagantly 80's at all. I recognize the style in perfumery ofcourse there is a patern there. But I think based on the compliments i get from others and in what i perceived myself for the first time when i got in touch with this, it smells smoky and warm. A bit nag champa'ish. Nothing crazy or tacky going on here. But then, i realy love vintage perfumes. :)

This came to me in a precious vintage coffret with Anne Klein II, Perry Ellis 360, Bal A Versailles, Fred Hayman 273, and Animale. I'd found and coveted the set because of my beloved and nearly impossible to obtain Anne Klein II, and I was interested in Animale, BAV and Joop , and curious about the others. I just dabbed a bit on, prepared for the whole cringe-and-scrub show. What a wonderful surprise! I smell heady florals I would expect in a perfume from this era,and the crispness of the aldehydes I have just now come to love. The tuberose in this is velvety instead of rubbery...nothing wrong with rubbery tuberose; in fact, I love it... this one just happens to be velvety, bordering on suede like. While we're on the subject, I *swear* I smell leather, identical to the one in Shalimar... and, strongly! Is it that animalic musk + aldehydes + oak moss= leather? Whatever the sorcery behind it (could be my own skin, or nose) I am happy to have it there, as I am happy to have leather in just about any fragrance. Anyway, back to the floral aspect. I do smell tuberose, but there has to be more to this bouquet... I sense a good dose of narcissus and a whisper of ylang. Yes, I see the notes listed, and I'm telling you, I don't smell rose or orange blossom (two of my favorites, so I am well-versed). I smell narcissus and maybe ylang, so there. All in all, Joop Femme is a womanly, sophisticated, complex joy to wear. I'm working from a mini splash here, so perhaps not getting the throw or longevity I might from a nice satisfying spritz... but, oh, that *will* happen. ;)