Note: Please understand that this website is not affiliated with the Jovan company in any way, it is only a reference page for collectors and those who have enjoyed the Jovan fragrances.


The goal of this website is to show the present owners of the Jovan company how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back your favorite perfume!


Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the perfume, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories), who knows, perhaps someone from the company might see it.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Fresh Patchouli by Jovan c1999

Fresh Patchouli by Jovan : launched in 1999.

So what does it smell like? According to Jovan: "Outdoor freshness of bright green cut grass is tickled with droplets from a watery green accord and touched with the warmth of vanilla and patchouli leaf. Matched with a tender bouquet of sunny freesia, morning jasmine, and opulent white rose. A fresh interpretation of an "Underground" classic."

  • Top notes: aldehydes, cut grass, watery green accord 
  • Middle notes: patchouli, freesia, jasmine, white rose
  • Base notes: patchouli leaves, vanilla

Unfortunately, to much dismay, this perfume was discontinued around 2008. 


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Advice from Jovan's Perfume Chemist

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Jun 7, 1975

Being a woman, a perfume chemist and a registered pharmacist, careers often dominated by men, Nancy Hayden has given a lot of thought to what makes a fragrance a success when you wear it. She comes up with some new ideas that are helpful in the present economy. “At perfume counters, women may try a number of scents and then decide on one they want to buy more or less on the spur of the moment.”

“Instead they should wait until the perfume evaporates after it is put on a pulse point. It takes about 10 minutes for the “top note” to evaporate, the first notes the olfactory senses pick up. Then you get the middle of the perfume and after about one hour the real perfume comes through,” she explained.

Then too, he says, if you are blonde, you have fewer oils in your skin so the lighter perfumes tend to lift off your skin better then, say, oriental-type perfumes which are heavier. Oriental scents and heavier florals woodsy or mossy notes are better for brunettes. In warmer weather there s more interest in lighter, citrusy scents with “green” airy top notes. Heavier scents with more base notes are likely to have more appeal in winter, she observed.

Some years ago, Mrs. Hayden originated a highly successful musk perfume by adding a “top note”, the first olfactory sensations that the nose picks up. She is fragrance director of Jovan.

“Musk is very difficult to smell. What happens to most musk users is their olfactory sense is desensitized. They cannot smell it on themselves,” she says.

“People often write us that they have been buying musk for years but can no longer smell it. But it is really always here creating an aura.”

One of her biggest challenges has been brewing scents for men, who are turned on, she says, by “animal scents and sweet vanilla-like notes.” The most successful men’s fragrances have incorporated sweetness, she claims. But men are not too sure of their own preferences and often choose “what is selling.”

“The most important thing in the man’s fragrance is to include notes that appeal to women., she says. “A man wants you to know he is wearing a fragrance.”

She thinks women wear perfume basically for their own enjoyment. It serves to fill out the wardrobe. But most women do not have definite taste in fragrance. If they can smell the perfume they are satisfied. Often they will choose it because it smelled good on another woman., definitely the wrong way to select perfume, Mrs. Hayden says, because “ it must suit one’s own skin chemistry.”

We live in an age when fragrances should be recognized by the olfactory senses. Somebody else should pick up a discernable quality. We want our good taste noticed in everything we wear.

In concocting perfumes the concept  often precedes the fragrance, she says, although they put together a grass oil because “ a green trend is here,” one reason we hear so much about green in scents.

She tries not to duplicate what has been done in the trade. On the other hand she must, ask herself whether “this is a masterpiece but will not have universal appeal.” She had worked for perhaps nine months on one fragrance and one week before production the company decided not to manufacture it, she says. She wanted them to wait a while “but nobody wants to create and wait. They want initial sales returns.”

Of the classic florals, lilac is the best seller, she says, with lily of the valley a close second and modern flowers, third. Flowers that can be identified are far more popular than mixed flowers which have an uncertain identification in her opinion.

Mrs. Hayden, 32, blonde and beautiful, is married to an eye doctor. She was graduated from University of Illinois College of Pharmacy and received her degree in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. She worked in pharmacy while attending college but found that though “the hours were great, there was no place to go as a pharmacist unless you owned your own store.”

On the other hand, industry has always fascinated her and she wanted to team her technical skills with marketing.



Monday, January 13, 2014

Where Should I Apply Perfume?

As a general rule, fragrance should be applied to pulse points. This is where the blood vessels are closest to the skin giving off more heat and acting like mini fragrance pumps.

Pulse points are the wrist, crook of the arm and back of the knee, and the base of the throat. Also, for long lasting fragrance spray at the ankles, it allows the fragrance to blossom up. For a sexy twist, apply perfume to your cleavage or spray perfume on your nude body before dressing. The nape of the neck, is a very romantic area, whenever your hair moves it might swish the perfume around, nice little subtle trail of perfumed loveliness.

Apply perfume right after you take a shower or bath. Your pores are more open then and will more easily soak up the scent. Some people say that rubbing the wrists together will crush the scent, I tried this with different perfumes over the course of two weeks, just to see if its true, it seemed to me that the friction of rubbing the wrists together actually heated up the fragrances and made them seem more potent.

I have read though that the perfume can react not so nicely to the first layer of skin...and give off a smell that isn't pleasant. Others say that to spray the perfume in the air and then walk into it, I have done this before, and it seems that it lets you control the amount of fragrance that is applied to your skin, rather than spraying directly onto the skin, this works best with heavier perfumes.

I spray perfumes on my clothes when I want to make the scent last longer, I won't spray perfume on fragile fabrics like silks or lace. You can spray your coat with perfume. Also an old tip is to apply pure parfum extrait to your furs. Doing this is up to your own discretion.

Do not apply perfume after you put your jewelry on, take it off first, then apply the perfume. The chemicals in perfume can leave stains or have chemical reactions to the metals, Pearls are especially susceptible to damage from perfume since it destroys their lustre.

Coco Chanel always said to apply perfume where you want to be kissed. I read an old perfume guide from the 1930s and it mentioned that you can apply perfume to your fingertips and eyebrows. Also apply perfume to a cotton ball and tuck it into your brassiere. Apply perfume to your hankies or gloves.

Jeanne Lanvin of Lanvin Perfumes suggested that you should apply perfume wherever your clothes cover your body, that way it will seem if it is coming from within and blend with the natural oils of your skin to make a truly individual fragrance. She also says the best time to apply perfume is 15 or 20 minutes before you are about to go out, that way the perfume has time to "set".

A 1924 ad for Ann Haviland perfumes suggests:

#1. to apply perfume to your eyebrows as the short hairs of the eyebrows retain the perfume longer than the skin since evaporation takes place more slowly.Besides, this is an ideal two-some,the girl usually comes up to a man's chin, not far below his nose.

#2. One little known method of applying perfume is to saturate a piece of cotton with your chosen scent, place it under the shoulder strap of your slip. Body heat releases an aura about you.

#3. A glamorous method of using perfume is to spray it on the hem of your evening gown, then as you walk or dance, the fragrance is wafted into the air around you. This is the best way to do it.

#4. Another pointer is to apply perfume to the inside of your gloves, while your gloves are on, the warmth of your hands attract the perfume which will cling to the fingers.