Delicious Night by Donna Karan New York + Sample Giveaway {Perfume Short (Review)} {New Perfume}
Delicious Night by Donna Karan is said to aim to capture the atmosphere of New York City at night. As is made clear by the website supporting the launch of the perfume, uncoverthecity.com, the scent targets bachelorettes in particular who are believed to be its ideal fragrance consumers and thought to be always potentially interested in a sexy perfume to wear on a night out with a band of girl-friends. Looking sideways at a potential mate is of course not forbidden and even encouraged if you read the perfume clearly.
Part of the perfume is sheer fun with notes of "frozen pomelo" and "chilled Blackberry Martini" and part of it is nocturnal, sexy, evocative of nude musky skin after a few hours spent touring bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The one thing missing is the scent of cold cigarettes, but we are no more in the era of flappers and very much in the one studded with smoke-free zones one day to become perfume-free zones if collective allergies become wildly rampant. Bloomingdale's is actually feeling free enough for now to spray the scent in the air for passers-by in the street to smell it, at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue.
The perfume is rather "pluralist" with fruity, floral, musky, "woodsy" nuances (patchouli, vetiver; see our post on vetiver in feminine perfumes recently) and an ambery body. It is classified as a floriental by DKNY.
Delicious Night successfully conveys the illusion of a crepuscular purple-smelling scent with its notes of blackberry, night-blooming orchids, very discreetly powdery iris, and the deeper base notes. It is a standard - one is tempted to say - efficacious functional perfume without it being boring or trite. It is well balanced while being on the pungent side as its goal seems to be to become one with your skin and enhance it. Its strongest quality resides in the fact that this would make a great flirty scent to be worn on a date.
The association of blackberry and musk was famously, for those who are interested in these sorts of things, inaugurated by Mûre et Musc by L'Artisan Parfumeur in 1978. Delicious Night is therefore a twist on this original idea which might have been encouraged by a distant precursor like Chamade by Guerlain.
The blackberry and musk marry well in their pungency. Here the pomelo and what smells like some coriander, maybe cedarwood and cumin add their high-pitched notes to create a sexy but not sexual musky accord. The woman who wears this is fully dressed but shows some bare skin.The musk in Delicious Night is quite marked, sweaty (4 hours of discreet perspiration) rather than frankly dirty (unwashed), akin to the type of stylized musky perspiring impression one finds in Alexander McQueen Kingdom.
On the right person endowed with the right attitude this could become a sexy little bomb. Although the marketing wants to broadly reach the group of women aged 18 to 35, the nocturnal quality of the scent and its slightly deeper ambery and floral velvety texture makes it a good fit for women in the higher digits of this group.
One would have liked the perfume to be more enduring. After the relative intensity of the scent and the satisfying sensation of leaving a noticeable musky trail, the perfume instead of deepening further becomes less rich in the dry-down and even a bit flat suddenly like a Champagne without much fizz left in it. The contrast is marked enough as to feel like a stale let-down rather than a harmonious transition. Some body cream in the same line will probably be needed to make the scent last longer at full throttle.
You can find complementary information about the scent in our previous post, including the complete list of notes and ancillary products.
You can buy the Eau de Parfum at Bloomingdale's where it is currently exclusively available between $52 and $68.
If you are interested in sampling the scent, please leave a comment below and the winner of the draw will be announced on Friday Oct 19 2007. You will receive a carded sample.
Previous Posts in Perfume Shorts:
Vetyver by Givenchy: Les Parfums Mythiques (2007)
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Comments
I am interested in sampling :) Boring fruity - floral top notes and incense in base? I must try it!
Posted by: agata | October 16, 2007
Actually it does not feel boring but maybe that is due to the base notes as you pointed out:)
Posted by: Marie-Helene | October 16, 2007
Okay... You have me curious!!!
Posted by: Christina | October 16, 2007
If you like your musk musky without it being beastly, it's one to consider. They do not list musk in the notes and I think it's possible that they constructed the musky impression without it.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | October 16, 2007
Please, please - I'd love a sample!
Posted by: Sharon | October 16, 2007
You're in.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | October 16, 2007
It's like the young girl wearing Be Delicious these past couple of years grew up and needs a "grown up, sexy" fragrance...Delicious Night would be the scent to wear. I can't wait to have it!!
Posted by: Angelica | October 17, 2007
Hm, would be interested in the third one in serie, pls enter me in the drawing. Thanks!!!
Posted by: Alica | October 17, 2007
incense seems to be in vogue as well as dark violet bottles i wonder noir is in almost all the fragrance launches this winter i hope it is as "night as it was named"
Posted by: michael lee | October 17, 2007
You're all in.
And Michael: yes, the amethyst color and theme is a fashionable trend this fall.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | October 17, 2007
They have a pretty advanced print ad in the magazines that includes an interactive CD w/their website. I was pretty amazed-so please enter me in the drawing--I'd like to see what the buzz is all about.
CindyN
Posted by: CindyN | October 19, 2007
If Be Delicous and Red Delicous, both for men and woman were such a huge success, then the Delicious Night will follow in their footsteps. Really cant wait for this one to arrive. Would like to sample the fragrance...
Posted by: Stefan | October 22, 2007
Stefan,
I really liked Be Delicious, especially its incredibly crisp dry-down. Red Delicious I tried only quickly.
Unfortunately the drawing is closed now!
Posted by: Marie-Helene | October 22, 2007
Can't wait to try a sample!
Posted by: Christine | November 15, 2007
I love the other Delicious scent and would love to try this new one. Thanks!
Posted by: Dana Clevenger | January 27, 2008
I would love to be entered in the drawing. I adore the other two fragrances.
Posted by: Shawntel | February 6, 2008
The drawing is over!
Posted by: Marie-Helene | February 6, 2008
Hmm....a sample sounds divine....
Posted by: Tanya | July 16, 2008