Promise Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle (2017)

Promise by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle

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7.4 / 10 69 Ratings

Promise is a perfume by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle for women and men and was released in 2017. The scent is woody-floral. Projection and longevity are above-average. It is being marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.

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Perfumer

Dominique Ropion

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Pink pepper, Rosemary, Apple
Heart Notes	Bulgarian rose, Turkish rose absolute, Clove
Base Notes	Patchouli, Ambroxan, Labdanum, Cypriol, Castoreum

Ratings

Scent

7.4 (69 Ratings)

Longevity

9.0 (64 Ratings)

Sillage

8.4 (63 Ratings)

Bottle

8.1 (75 Ratings)

Submitted by Franfan20, last update on 30.05.2020.

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Reviews

05/30/2020

6.5
Scent 9
Longevity 9
Sillage 7
Bottle

Insa

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Insa

The tree's cut down.

Since I am currently trying to test my nose a little bit, I have been trying to sniff the ingredients of various perfumes for some time now.
So:
Without looking at the fragrance pyramid, I ordered a bottling and then smelled it on my arm
My first impression:
Whew! It's really loud
A woody-resinous scent can be perceived.
Paired with something green and floral in the background. I don't realize that it is supposed to be Cypriol, Rosemary and Rose, but my nose is also not yet so well trained in such complex scent compositions.

I'm going to smell my arm again Somehow it also has something slightly fruity, which gives the fragrance a certain sweetness.
But only very tentatively and therefore also difficult to identify.
It's probably the apple flavour. But I wouldn't have recognized it.

The 3 main characters are in this fragrance:
Resin, wood and patchouli.
You can smell it clearly.
I would've guessed Amber by now by smelling her Actually, there's Ambroxan in it.

So now to the conclusion.
I see this scent more in men and not overdosed.
It reminds me a little bit of a big, beautiful tree, which was cut down and cut open.
Now the resin is running out of him.
The wound is stuffed with patchouli and now the whole forest smells of it.

I think there will be many a hiker who is fascinated by this smell, but at the same time it can also polarize.
However you feel about this fallen tree. It will lie there like that for a long time to come.
(This pictorial representation is representative of the durability)

02/26/2020

8.5
Scent 9
Longevity 9
Sillage 9
Bottle

Emorandeira
211 Reviews

Emorandeira

For oud lovers without oud

One of my favourites of the FM línea with carnal flower and musc ravageur. I feel overall the spices... It is for me a very spicy perfume. I can smell also a very powerful but nice rose. I can feel also the Green Apple at the opening and a Woody/animalic background. It is for me like the typical spicy rose/oud parfums but changing the oud for a different animalic wood. The performance is great. Good longevity and strong sillage the first 2 hours. When i spray It i can feel It around for one two hours!! I thought It would have incense... But not hwhw. It is unisex and i think better for night time.

Scent: 8.5
Longevity: 9
Sillage: 8.5
Quality/price: 7
Originality: 9
Versatility: 5
Global: 9

12/25/2019

9
Scent 10
Longevity 8
Sillage 9
Bottle

Ovaissaleem
49 Reviews

Ovaissaleem

A Work of Art

Notes: Pink Pepper, Green Apple, Rosemary, Bulgarian Rose Oil, Turkish Rose Absolute, Clove, Patchouli, Labdanum, Ambroxan, Cypriol and Castoreum

A gorgeous and beautiful creation by Dominique Ropion. This opens with Green Apple and Pink Pepper but Apple note is more prominent to me and I get this note till the dry-down. As the scent starts settle on my skin, Rose note along with Cypriol which gives this a woody and earthy vibe. Patchouli and Labdanum are also detected near the dry-down. I also get hints of leather on my skin. Another masterpiece by Dominique with excellent performance.

11/24/2019

7
Scent 10
Longevity 8
Sillage 9
Bottle

Drseid
723 Reviews

Drseid

Broken Promise...

Promise opens with an intersting slightly sweet, but also tart unripened apple with underlying airy rose support. As the composition moves to its early heart, the apple vacates, leaving the airy rose to take the fore, adding sanitized light patchouli and mild pepper support, with faux-oud-like cypriol rising from the base, growing slowly in its intensity as time passes. As the composition moves to the late dry-down, the cypriol has become the star as the rose has long since vacated, staying so through the finish, only allowing hints of resinous dry honey-like labdanum to peep through in support. Projection is excellent, as is longevity at around 12 hours on skin.

When I first heard about "Promise" being another Ropion and Malle collaboration, I was really eager to try the composition, as Ropion does his best work under Malle's direction yielding great results like Portrait of a Lady, Une Fleur de Cassie, Carnal Flower, and the first offering in the Malle Middle East series, The Night. The chances of another winner seemed pretty high, but there was one key note that was a potential showstopper... cypriol. Cypriol is used by many perfume outfits to approximate the smell of oud. It might have been a tell-tale sign of things to come when Malle priced Promise significantly less than all the others in the Middle East series that used real oud within. I would like to say Ropion was able to skillfully tone down the cypriol in Promise, but alas it is the composition's downfall, marring an otherwise fine effort by the master. On the plus side, the tart apple note really is handled quite skillfully, pairing surprisingly well with the airy rose and the initially supporting cypriol. It is only when the cypriol becomes the star about midway through the heart phase of development that the composition loses its balance, and loses the "promise" of being a major winner for Malle. I suspect that with some time, a perfumer the caliber of Dominique Ropion would have been able to get the composition balance in tune, but alas, as is, Promise becomes the weakest effort of the Malle Middle East series, and leaves this writer considerably wanting. The bottom line is the $390 per 100ml bottle Promise has some innovative tricks up its sleeve, but just can't keep that faux oud from obscuring its finer points, earning a "good" to "very good" 3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars, and a tepid recommendation outside of any price considerations. If one considers the price tag, "Promise" is a tough sell.

03/01/2019

8.5
Scent 9
Longevity 8
Sillage 8
Bottle

SmellGoodGuy
12 Reviews

SmellGoodGuy

Dueling notes!

It’s all about the dry-down with this one. Initially you will be overwhelmed with competing notes, with the apple being the strongest. Although the tartness of the apple remains through all three phases, it learns to play nice with the rest of the notes. Expressly, the rose and oud, which also play large roles in the overall composition. The end result is quite a unique fragrance. I’m confidently signing off with the caveat of this being only for the intrepid frag head...

12/14/2017

6.5
Scent 9
Longevity 6
Sillage 7
Bottle

StellaDiverF
213 Reviews

StellaDiverF

Helpful Review 3

Virile Rose Oud

The opening of Promise hits me with a virile, but still quite convincing "oud" accord, the kind of nutty, leathery smoky smell of cypriol that is often used to reconstruct oud. The rose reaches out from the shadow very soon, along with a sour, almost fermented fruity note. The later sour note combined with the leathery cypriol, smells very much like ripened goat cheese to me.

The ripened cheese impression gradually dies down during the first hour, but the oud accord is still the driving force and maintains its leathery, animalic aspects. The rose thankfully does not automatically take on the sugary prune-like purple fruitchouli with the appearance of patchouli in the base. Instead, it keeps the soft honeyed floralcy of a true rose material. The initial fermented, sour note is also replaced by a bright, crunching green note that pops up around the 2-hour mark, albeit very subtle.

Up til now, I enjoy the plush rose note in Promise, the ripened cheese-like oud accord is also as challenging as it's original. However, it also has a fairly noticeable dose of a certain harsh, dry note, either from popular woody amber aromachemicals, or an unpleasant facet of cypriol? Either way, it's a note that I find heavily employed in many niche masculine or oud offerings to evoke the kind of virile, rugged image, which is an aesthetic that I personally do not appreciate.

Once Promise hits the dry down after about 5 hours, the fragrance becomes a skin scent dominated by these woody amber aromachemicals and an abstract clean patchouli-soft rose touch. The sillage is initially moderate, and retreats to be skin scent in the dry down. The longevity is almost 12 hours.

While I enjoy a few aspects of Promise, the unsubtle woody amber aromachemicals is a dealbreaker to me, even though it's not as forceful as many similar fragrances. If you happen to be looking for a virile rose-"oud" and don't have issues with woody amber aromachemicals, Promise might be an interesting fragrance to sample. But do not be fooled by the apple in the note list, as it's very different from a conventional pretty fruity rose.