JOUISSANCE PARFUMS

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Subversive scents inspired by the books we read beneath the sheets.

ABOVE, Video by Stella Berkofsky

1954

La Bague D'O

A journey by car to an unknown destination, the leisurely pleasure of ritualistic dressing, sacred submission, the candy wrapper shine of glossy fashion photographs, purple welts that take weeks to heal, a masked ball and the iron ring on your third finger...

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1968

En Plein Air

Grass imprints on bare skin, underwear clutched in one hand, the soft touch of a stranger’s lips, Rohmer movies at La Cinematheque Française, the hedonistic thrill of cruising, typewriter keys cataloguing a litany of explicit details and the witching hour spent somewhere secret...

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1931

Les Cahiers Secrets

Artist expats in Paris, erotic journal entries, odysseys of self discovery, the small but sensual luxuries of good coffee, silk stockings, rugs and tapestries, skin so luminous it glows in the dark, quick and intense female friendships and the subversive power of women’s language...

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Jouissance: En Plein Air, perfume sample.

above, Explore the Collection

II.

A Note on Jouissance

Jouissance was born in the pages of the books we read beneath the sheets. Even today, stories such as Histoire d’O and the diaries of Anaïs Nin still manage to discompose and arouse readers thanks to their radical complexity. Our scents are inspired by the female artists, writers and fictional characters who taught us to fantasise and to desire. In homage to them, our approach is inspired by the specificity of women's language, art and creativity.

‘Jouissance’ is a complex concept meaning to transgress the limits imposed on pleasure, and linked to femininity because of women’s capacity for experiencing surplus enjoyment. French feminist writer Hélène Cixous thinks of it as an erotic, mystical abundance – the source of female creative power.

ABOVE, En Plein Air

Explore The Collection

Discover our debut collection — EN PLEIN AIR, LA BAGUE D'O and LES CAHIERS SECRETS.

Index

JOUISSANCE IN THE PRESS

I’m glad to have been introduced to Jouissance — a UK brand that aims to explore female-authored sexuality. Les Cahiers Secrets is a charming take on sweet, powdery iris — all gentle blushes on white cheeks — but the real standout is La Bague D’Or. A veritable Madame De Merteuil beckoning you to an orgy in a velvet-lined boudoir, it is both filthy and regal, pushing out its central rose note with buxom insistence. Imagine a lecherous Portrait Of A Lady and you’ll get a sense of how it operates.

Dariush Alavi

Issey Miyake Le Sel D’Issey, Puente Galavant, Vyrao Mamajuju, Jouissance La Bague D’O and other reviews – 2024

Little details, all carefully attended to, create a cohesive presence catering to the intersection between a very modern post-coquette girlblogging clientele and the overindulgent, highly aestheticized women’s erotic literature predating mid-20th century feminist psychoanalysis. Finally, a niche perfume house for young women who liberally describe situations as ‘Kafkaesque’ and have notifications enabled for the Anaïs Nin Twitter bot.

Audrey Robinovitz

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Describing Jouissance as a ‘perfume brand’ almost feels like doing it a disservice. Straddling art, literature, critical theory, eroticism, and more, Jouissance is as much focused on the fragrances it sells as it is the imaginative world built around them.

Hannah Tindle

Jouissance: the perfume brand turning erotic French literature into subversive scents

The brilliance of Jouissance perfumes however is not just in their scent, but in how they promote female authors that have been cast to the literary shadows thanks to their celebration of female eroticism.

Madeleine Rothery

Jouissance, the Perfume Brand Inspired by Erotic Women’s Literature

...while we’re warned never to judge a book by its cover, we should also perhaps avoid judging Jouissance by the innocent connotations of its pale pink, silk-lined box which belies the subversive undercurrent at the heart of its creation.

Emily Dinsdale

Jouissance: The perfume inspired by your favourite erotic literature

Jouissance, in the theoretical sense, aptly describes what it feels like to experience the creations of Jouissance, the brand. Les Cahiers Secrets, based on the writings of Anaïs Nin, is, at open, so vulgar you can’t stop sniffing it. Powdery orris and fresh lilies are rudely interspersed with whiffs of sweaty cumin and animalic musk. It’s clean and dirty, gorgeous and sordid all at once.

Alexandra Pauly

Jouissance Makes Filthy Perfume For Sexy Intellectuals (EXCLUSIVE)

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