WHAT I SMELL:  Promise opens with a soft and cottony musky iris that is quickly infused with a combination of herbs that are too light to distinguish or specify.  The perfume is so transparent and barely there that unless I stick my nose in my arm, I’m not able to smell much, if anything.  As the perfume develops, the lightest of wood draws the perfume back from the iris and musk and moves it to a light paper pulp.  But as soon as I say that, the iris comes gliding gracefully back to the center of the perfume.  Promise is a sheer fragrance where the iris is warmed by a light sunny sandalwood.  It’s beautiful, but it’s so barely there at the beginning that you wonder if you sprayed anything on at all.  Thankfully, as the perfume wears, it begins to grow, but it never deviates from the warmed iris that first came forward; except for the addition of a wonderful powder that helps the perfume to radiate in just the right way.

From the Cartier website:

It was time to capture a life full of fresh early mornings, Petit grain, FRESH HERBS at the dawn of intentions. Everything seemed possible – love, creation, belief. The time had come to embrace the day, comforted by self-confidence and honesty IRIS, and to fly or walk in the first glimmers of a spring of existence. The sheer newness was just waiting to be explored like an undiscovered continent bathed in hope, with the promise of cherishing the moment a little longer while everything remained quiet. Prolonging, preserving the moment: L’HEURE PROMISE by Cartier. An eiderdown of fragrance sandalwood, for leaving the night behind without affronting sleep. Outside, I sense, like a veil of tulle MUSK NOTES, my own deciding scent – that of my destiny unfolding and of an adventure that is anxious to take place.

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  Iris colored tulle.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE L’HEURE PROMISE:  soft, elegant, sheer

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT L’HEURE PROMISE:  Perfume Posse

BOTTOM LINE:  L’Heure Promise is incredibly beautiful in a simply elegant way.  I would probably give the perfume a 4 bone rating, but this is so much of a skin scent that I would find it hard to do so given the hefty price tag.  But would I like to have this as part of my perfume collection?  That would be a definitive “yes!”

• Bone Rating: 3.5 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent: Floral Green
• Nose:  Mathilde Laurent
• Classification: Unisex
• Expense: $275 for 75 ml eau de toilette