Be Delicious Fresh Blossom Eau de Parfum 50ml

Fifty millilitres tends to be the size people actually finish, and Donna Karan Be Delicious Fresh Blossom Eau de Parfum 50ml sits at that useful midpoint between a trial and a commitment.

The composition opens tart. Grapefruit is sharp and faintly bitter, blackcurrant brings a green, slightly sour note that keeps the fruit from reading as sweet, and apricot rounds them both with a soft, warm sweetness. The heart is a clean and well balanced floral: rose for body, lily of the valley for a cool green freshness, jasmine for warmth and a little weight. Below it all sits red apple, the only base material and an unexpected one, crisp rather than cooked, which gives the final stretch of the wear a bright edge instead of the usual soft landing.

The year we hold for it is 2009. It belongs to a moment when fruit and flowers together were everywhere, and it is one of the few from that period still worth owning. At eau de parfum strength it wears for several hours at a moderate distance, close enough for an office and present enough to notice. Reapplying at lunchtime will carry it into the evening.

It is aimed at women. Spring and summer suit it, as does daytime generally, and it is an easy scent to wear around other people because it never becomes heavy. The 50ml bottle is the practical choice for regular wear without tying up a shelf, and it is the size most buyers come back to once they have tried the smaller one.

Donna Karan founded her label in New York in 1984 after designing at Anne Klein, and it was built on soft fabrics in neutral colours and on the bodysuit in particular. Be Delicious has been widely worn since 2004, and the fragrances carry the name under licence.