Reviews of DKNY Red Delicious Men (2006)
by Donna Karan

This is excellent scent. It does the job it was intended to do very well.

Fresh and very aromatic filled with red-hot spiciness and interesting fiery resins as an undertone which reminds me of the way salmiac smells. Very compelling, shimmering scent.

Well done by Mr.Roucel; this scent doesn’t smell nearly as artificial as so many other scents of this kind. In fact, this is very suave and fairly masculine blend.

Makes me think of red (fairytale-like) forest filled with trees full of ripe transparent fruits.

Very stable scent and it lasts for a long time.


Red delicious!

I get a blast of rum/ booze at first, and lowers down on my skin to apples and grapefruit, i also get a bit of either brown sugar or cinnamon. It doesnt really have a lot going on at once, but it is complex, which is nice. It is a scent which probably will not get mistaken for another (besides regular be delicious of course) It stays horribly low on the skin, yet is thick. It has a 'sticky' aspect to it, kinda like a kid slapped your arm with a lollipop. I remember this really wowed me when i first tried it in store, and i bought it a few years later after it disappeared in stores.
zztopp is right, you must overdose on this. by overdose, i mean 5-6 sprays instead of the usual 2-3. too little sprays and your like wth, its hardly there. go for 5-6 and you've got yourself a nice thick fragrance which doesnt project itself really far. I like this fragrance, but it has its problems. the booze notes are not my thing, as i do not want to get mistaken for an alcoholic. I feel like im spreading honey or some thick juice on my body whenever i wear this, but it is only appealing to me when i go overboard. This scent has an afterscent. When closeby you smell the rum and some fruits, but the further you get from it, the more the apple note sticks in your nose. I guess its just too much for my nose to handle. due to its thickness, it should be a great winter fruity scent-- not many fruity scents can survive in the dead cold of winter, but I think this is the contender for that fight. I got this last summer and 2-3 sprays would give me a headache on a hot day. its pleasant but it can become overbearing. I personally prefer fragrances that 'power up' as my body heats up, and like i just said, this one only gets overbearing as your body heat intensifies.

complex, but it can be a great scent. Ill be testing it out again in the winter time. I can envision it mixing great with the light crisp winter air. summertime = too much.

Sweet and spicy, this fragrance reminds me very much of the smell of warm apple cider on a cool fall day, with a warm and inviting cinnamony apple accord at its heart. There is coffee lurking in the background here, but used in a very subtle fashion (you would miss it if it were gone though). Due to the scent association I have with this fragrance it is to me firmly a cool weather affair and not terribly appropriate for the dog days of summer, though I could see it working in the warmer months as well on a night with a nice cool breeze.

It actually smells okay (and not too synthetic) but smelling like a Brae Burn is not my idea of fun…

[Original submission date: 01 July 2008]

I've decided to try this over again to try to make something positive out of it, but it still smells very tacky and generic. The whole scent seems to ride on synthetics. Disappointing for something that had pretty positive hype.

gourmand or oriental with a note or 2 of sweetness but not overly done.very masculine cognac and rum that runs circles around spark which uses the same 2 notes.i don't detect much vanilla but the coffee and patchouli work very well in the drydown. casual or a night out scent with good longevity!!!

Notes:
Top: Cognac, Rum, Saffron Flower, Cardamom, Bergamot, Mandarin Flower
Heart: Coffee Absolute Africa, Juice Apple Liqueur, Davana Flower, Tiger Orchid, Airy Ozone
Base: Sandalwood, Okoume Wood, Moss, Patchouli, Iris, Vanilla

Red Delicious for men (Red) is a limited-edition woody-oriental fragrance from DKNY. Red is in the name, red apples are supposedly in the juice, and red is what I see when I try to use the uber unergonomic and clumsily rotund bottle - it can be quite a challenge to get a spray on target. Once you do get a squirt or two on spot, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover a competent gourmand oriental with surprisingly complex structure.

Red opens with boozy notes of cognac and rum (cognac more than rum). With a normal application the boozy notes are barely perceptible so to get the full alcohol dose drench your wrist with 5-6 squirts and get the "mother of brandy" flowing.
This leads to the heart notes where the "Red delicious" in the name comes to play. The main selling point of Red is a fairly successful recreation of the "delicious" aroma of apple liquer... not apples, or green apples, or red apples, but apple liquer, a spirit based drink containing apples, spices and brandy. The accord is pleasant, with just the right balance of fruits and spices, and the coffee is used in an ingenius way. By it self it isn't perceptible but it operates behind the scenes to "dry out" the apple liquer accord and prevents it from becoming to overbearing. Throughout theres a distant chirping of an ozone note which becomes louder when the drydown of light woods and vanilla materialises (the apple liquor accord lasts into the drydown). Things get a bit scratchy in the drydown, with some less than impressive woody and moss and pedestrian vanilla note failing to provide the expansive landing pad which would have propelled Red into the black.

So there it is .. intoxicating cognac notes, a rich yet subtle spiced-fruits heart, and an "ok" base of woods and vanilla enveloped by the "everyman" ozone note. The base isn't enough to prevent Red from being a contender in the "worthy gourmands for men" category. Sporting a good structure, and an attractive apple liquer accord, Red is fun and "delicious". Just decant into a more sane atomizer before using it..

Rating: 7.75/10.0

I don't usually get headaches from scents, but this is an exception. Just thinking about it gives me a headache, so much that I can't review it.

I get no apples in this at all. More of a musky, peppery fruit. Poor sillage and longevity (fortunately).

This has been the best use of apples I've ever smelled in a fragrance, and the notes of rum are just as good too! It's a signature fragrance for the fall/winter season for me, because I love sweet fragrances (as young as I am), but it's so warm and spicy that I just have to have it for that time of the year. Perfect for the younger crowd as well.

I don't like many synthetic scents but this is one of the exceptions. The sweet and liquor notes are inviting, having decent longevity and sillage.

A red apple filled with seducing alcohol. Guess there is too much alcohol in it, just fades too quickly. You have to over spray to make use of it.
Recommended for 18- 26. Mature men would find this funny imo. Perfect for afternoon usage when you will enjoy a time out in a cafe.
Overall, a great orginal choice if you want to arouse opposite sex's curiosity :)

Instant headache poison. I liked the idea of apples. I love apples (I eat at least 2 a day - it keeps the dentist away). But this fluid smells too synthetic and doesn't actually do a thing for me. It is not classy, it is not sexy, it is not the way I think apples smell and definitely not the way I want to smell. I choose this over the normal (green) Be Delicious Men because that one was too sour (for what I can recall). On paper it smelled pretty much OK.

The bottle fits the idea perfect, but the spritzer is a little hard to handle. It also does not spray very generously (which in my case is a good thing!)

The silage is IMO pretty weak and for longevity, it is gone within an hour after spraying (on my arm). Thumbs down for this one, but I totally understand the people who like it. So try before you buy!

I get very bad sillage and longevity out of this...
This was love from the first smell, but the longevity is insanely low.
And the spray mechanism is really bad.

great scent.
either like this one or dont, its very sophisticated and different.
fruity fragrance with something like lemon and others, different than your average fruity cologne.
this one if far better than the original be delicious.

This is what happens when you leave your Carlos Santana for Men next to your Liz Claiborne Spark -- the two mate at night and create this odd little baby.

Put another way, it's Spark without the cheap synthetic rumminess and Santana minus the distinctive (and very pleasant) musky notes.

If you like fruity, fairly sweet men's frags, you can't go wrong (esp. for the low price tag). If this type of frag is NOT your bailiwick, though, I'd run screaming in the opposite direction.

I'm giving this one a thumbs up, but only with the proviso above.

I must admit that I am not a fan of apples in fragrances... But this is a very unique scent done by DKNY! It's intoxicating & sparkling somewhat. It is way better then Be Delicious as apples & coffee is not a good mixture for me. This fragrance has good longevity & is worth the money! Thumbs up for me!

Very acrid opening. I liked this at first when I smelled it at the duty free, but after buying the bottle and wearing it home, I have to say I don't like this anymore. It seems very linear to me - the biting fruity note (but not a sweet fruity note) mixed with spice. It overpowers my nose and I can't find anything more as it dries down. Definite thumbs down for me.

Indeed it does reminds cough medicine, at the end, which is strange, but this is a wonderful fragrance. Much more complex and richer than the "Be Delicious".
The longevity is great! The sillage is just perfect! I can smell it for hours! Now... when we talk about "Be Delicious"... it lasts, on my skin, for about 1 hour! Terrible!
"Red Delicious" is very dark and I wish I could have a drink that could taste just like this perfume smells...

This stuff is great a dark and spicy impression from cognac, rum, saffron flower, and cardamom combine with sparkling citrus nuances of bergamot and mandarin flower and then some I love this fragrance I love wearing it and love the compliments

I don´t like the womens line but a friend of mine wanted a cheap nice scent for him to use so we went sampling and I fell in love with this one.

The ultimate bad girl scent, it´s sweet fresh and it has an edge to it when a woman wears it.

For guys looking for a simple friendly and fruity scent that is easy on the wallet this may be a good one.

a better version than the original, this one is more complex and rich in the notes, oriented into more spicy but not heavy

.. really nice fragance..

I can really smell the Apple and Rum mixture in this one! This is no where near my type as it is way to "spicy" for me, however, it is not offensive at all. For it's category, it is a good cologne with good stay power! Just don't spray too much!

The very boozy, somewhat masculine opening of Cognag almost drowns all other top notes, but after a short while the mid notes will come in very shy and almost like asking for permission.
The longevity is very good here, I found out after I refused to wash for a long time just to see what happened. The mid notes seemed to dissapear in a matter of a short 2 hours or less and I felt that was it for this scent.
But later that night the nice soft musks and the fruity apple bits appeared and were very comfortable and very “clean”, wich I thought was very good after being for so many hours on my skin, it was almost like out of the shower clean.
The top boozy notes were the worst part for me, it’s a good thing they evaporated fast. A very interesting ,very clean , soft gourmand for men.

Just smells like apples, and cough medicine...the 'Be Delicious' scent is much better...(Donna Karan should make a green apple scent/theme/bottle for her next apple endeavor.)

a basket full of apples-not more! that´s it-it reminds me a bit of all these shampoos with the apple smell-bäh...how can donna karan who has done such a great work-for example with unleaded for men and cashmere mist for women-sink so deep and allow to launch such a garbage in her name? Someone should explain this to me?Loss of brain?Very sad.Oh but you can use it as a room spray......not bad.....

Excellent parfume by DKNY. dissimilar notes. prefer than be delicious men.
Notes:
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.

This fragrance opens with notes of Rum and Cognac, among other sweet and liquor notes. It lasts awhile, at least 6 hours, I wouldn't call it a complex fragrance the notes change but they all have a similar feel. Its a fun scent I like to wear out to clubs or if I need a pick me up for a long day at the office. It never fails to get compliments, it is nothing life changing but I can't say a bad thing about it.

I sampled this on my luch break and after work decided to buy a bottle. Its more suitable for the younger crowd. Its one of my favorites to feel light-hearted and carefree, but if only it had more strength!