DKNY

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Delicious Delights Cool Swirl

Frosted DKNY apple, the top half pale green, with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio

Cool Swirl is a trip through our nearest Korean grocery, with the produce that smells of sweet greens and strange fresh fruit, the dairy case full of coconut water, the shelves of flower scented cosmetics, ending at the freezer chest by the register, filled with melon popsicles and Bravo pistachio treats.

Lasts a half hour in intimate space and becomes a faint skin scent of musk and ice cream.
(For longer satisfaction skip the scent and grab a pint of B&J’s.)

*

I really should have chosen BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez’s “Ice Cream” but it makes my head hurt, so here’s Tom Waits instead.

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Be Delicious Fresh Blossom

Chrome DKNY mini apple filled with pale pink eau.

“It gets better,” a teacher once told me, and I clung to those words even through college.

Fresh Blossom doesn’t.

Starts summer school with fruit flavored sanitizing cleanser and Pert shampoo. The roses soon call attendance, sharp and artificial on wire stems, loud enough to make one wince.
A few hours later, the florals settle to apple woods, a smear of Yankee Candle MacIntosh that stains the clothes.

This one gets a passing grade only for the longevity.

*

Wussy’s cover of the Beatles needs more play–it’s got a great Cowboy Junkies hits The Runaways feel.

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Be Delicious Paris

Mini blue liquid filled DKNY chrome apple dwarfed by a Pink Lady apple, and violet blue flowers.

The final flanker from the DKNY Hearts the World set, and the best of the lot.

This time our girl is drinking wine at the nearest bar after French Club let out and enjoying a menthol cigarette. The usual green apple has turned to chardonnay, the flowers-for-teacher left in the classroom, the sandalwood burnt to patchouli ash.

Lasts a few hours in personal space–then the dry-down turns surprisingly rich and masculine on the skin for a few hours more, a rough vanilla cologne vibe that elevates Paris way above the other cities in this line.
Definitely one to snag at TJMaxx.

*

This sweet little song goes to Paris, Texas.

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Golden Delicious

Mini gold chrome DKNY apple sitting in the center of a halved golden delicious.

(I love TJMaxx flanker gift sets!)
This is the most refined of the Be Delicious line that I’ve sniffed so far.

A slice of fresh apple, soft flowers and a bit of plum sauce, that quickly go green with lily-of-the-valley for an hour–the usual DKNY floral fruit teacher’s fare.
Later when the woods give the base some backbone, it gets sophisticated–turns out the substitute has a master’s degree in postmodern design.

Lasts through afternoon study hall in personal space.

*

Another Golden that’s delicious.

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Be Delicious NYC

Mini DKNY chrome apple filled with green juice, next to an Empire apple and an orange and green button flower.

Another from yet another flanker gift set–DKNY has put out at least six dozen different Be Delicious apples in the past two decades–this one seems to be a light version of the original.

The guy says it smells like watermelon. He isn’t far off; the top is cucumber with some citrus and white flowers.

I get the apple-for-the-teacher and lily-of-the-valley of the 2004 version, but they feel lighter, letting the violet powder and dusty rose come through. The same classroom ruler woods on the bottom, but this time she lets the class out early.

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This song would get you a detention–lyric and moving and pretty, but with grit and a few jarring MFer’s because, well, –waddayawant?! Dis is New York!

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Be Delicious Rio

Gala apple next to a mini DKNY chrome apple and a pink flower blossom.

Happy hour on ladies’ night.

First splash is apple vodka and passionfruit flavored whipped topping, then calms down to sweet orange flowers in personal space. Fades after two hours, leaving a smudge of benzoin on the skin.

The ending sweet resin is rather nice–if it had more depth, this one would wear well for date night, not just drinks with the girls.

(I’ve never been to Rio, sadly. Does it smell like Gala Apple Stoli?)

*

This Girl is Crazy by Brazilian pop star Anitta is too fun.

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Be Delicious London

Chrome DKNY apple filled with pink liquid, next to a pink petaled flower and a Honeycrisp apple.

Another apple for the teacher–this one is passionate about Victorian literature and floral print dresses.

Honeycrisp by the bushel and Crabtree & Evelyn rose talc, with modest sillage until tea time. Woodsy amber at the bottom lasts longer on clothes.

I kind of feel like this is what an American designer thinks London should be–cliche and prissy and pretty history–without acknowledging the grime and colonialism and punk rock.

*

The “DKNY Hearts the World” line came out in 2012, when this song hit it big in the US. (And Florence is actually from London, unlike this perfume.)

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Be Tempted Eau So Blush

be tempted eau so blushSafe citrus and berry splash with flowers–nice dry woodsy peony, in a clean and non-alluring way–but it’s loud. Big invasive sillage that takes over the clothes, like when you switch fabric softeners and can’t get used to the new smell, but even longer lasting.

This one feels like an afterthought, as if it were put out for bottle collectors.

Neon Hitch is also loud and kind of invasive, but is absolutely alluring and by no means an afterthought.

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Be Delicious

Be Delicious
Mini DKNY apple with chrome cap and apple-green eau, casting nice shadows.

This one is pure kindergarten teacher.

Thirsty green apple juice boxes, cucumber slices and flowers on the desk–lily-of-the-valley and roses–with a base of amber and gnawed-on pencils.

Good sillage, lasts through noon recess, and never makes you stand in the corner.
I’d give it a B+.

My favorite cute schoolyard tune.