DKNY / Donna Karan
DKNY / Donna Karan
578 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Cucumber and grapefruit pierce through immediately with a bracing, almost herbal sharpness, supported by magnolia's creamy-green whisper. The apple appears not as the dominant force marketing suggests, but as a gentle sweetener rounding the citrus's sharp edges, creating something closer to a greenery-forward splash than a fruity indulgence.
The florals—particularly tuberose and lily of the valley—begin their ascent, introducing a creamy, slightly indolic sweetness that conflicts with the earlier green freshness. The apple recedes, and violet's peppery undertones emerge, creating an almost powdery complexity as the tuberose's coconut-adjacent character becomes more pronounced, lending an unexpected warmth.
Woods and white amber emerge as a whisper rather than a foundation, settling into something soft and lightly sweet without depth or permanence. Within hours, the fragrance becomes almost imperceptible—a faint floral-woody trace rather than a lingering presence, explaining the longevity concerns.
Be Delicious arrives as a curious collision between fruit-forward immediacy and floral restraint—a fragrance that Maurice Roucel positioned as neither wholly fruity nor traditionally feminine, despite its apple-centric marketing. The opening salvo of cucumber and grapefruit establishes something crisp and almost savoury, a green-tinged freshness that feels more vegetable than orchard. Yet the apple, rather than bolstering this bright trajectory, merges with lily of the valley and tuberose to create something altogether more ambiguous—a sweetened, almost creamy florality that flirts with soapiness without fully committing to either camp.
The tuberose and rose notes work in uncomfortable proximity, the former's heady, coconut-tinged presence wrestling against the rose's supposed refinement. Violet adds a peppery, slightly dusty quality that prevents the composition from becoming purely gourmand. It's this particular tension—between wanting to be fresh and wanting to be floral, between fruity charm and white floral weightiness—that defines Be Delicious as a fragrance of interesting contrasts rather than seamless cohesion.
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3.6/5 (128)