Just like a woman, the fragrance is a dichotomy of softness and strength. Utilizing ingredients that are traditionally found in masculine fragrances and wrapping them with nurturing white florals, Donna Karan and [perfumer] Anne Flipo’s groundbreaking creation results in a feminine and sensual scent: the confident signature core of sandalwood and Haitian vetiver is sublimated with the creamy feminine notes of orange flower resonating in an instinctual feminine sensuality.
— Donna Karan Woman press materials

If I had a nickel for every time a new women’s perfume has promised some “fusion of masculine and feminine”,¹ I’d have a grande latte, or maybe even a frappucino. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the fragrance itself turns out to be business as usual — most women’s fragrances have notes that could be considered “traditionally” masculine, after all, just as most men’s fragrances have notes that could be considered “traditionally” feminine.

Why this should be a selling point — for women! men’s fragrances advertised as having a feminine side are as rare as dodo birds² — is beyond me, but apparently it is, and I’ll say this for the new Donna Karan Woman, it delivers, at least on this particular point. Donna Karan Woman is closer to feminine than masculine, but not by much. If you put it in a different bottle and tweaked the top notes a bit, you’d have a Donna Karan Man.

The start is a fairly conventional blend of citrus and fruity notes…

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