One Bad Apple: DKNY Red Delicious for Men

I don't like to say that a fragrance smells like a commercial product. It's too easy. All too many people say, "It smells like Raid!" (Or, sometimes, "It smells like bug spray!") In my experience, even loathsome scents are a little more complex than that.

However, I tried the new DKNY scent for men, Red Delicious, this weekend, and I can say that the top note smells precisely like Benylin cough syrup.

The rest of it's not much better. There just seems to be too much going on:

Cognac, Rum, Saffron Flower, Cardamom, Bergamot, Mandarin Flower, Coffee Absolute Africa, Juice Apple Liqueur, Vanilla Vodka, Davana Flower, Tiger Orchid, Airy Ozone, Sandalwood, Okoume Wood, Moss, Patchouli, Iris.

Even ignoring Sephora's apparent typos ("juice apple liqueur"?), there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it; it's a jumble. (Four different kinds of booze and coffee?) It doesn't smell like the other fresh men's scents, it's true enough; but couldn't it at least smell good?

In fairness, I didn't have a chance to wear it on my skin, and I smelled it for only about ten minutes, long enough for the Benylin to wear off and the middle notes to emerge: they weren't any better. I'll have to give it another try one of these days, because there have (occasionally) been scents that I didn't like at first and eventually came to love (Hermes' Bel Ami, for one). For all I know, Red Delicious transcends its muddled beginning and evolves into a sexy triumph of the modern perfumer's art. I doubt it, though.