Les Heures de Parfum - I L'Heure Promise
Cartier (2009)

Smells identical to Hiris by Hermes.

Fantastic iris. It calls to mind Chanel No 19, the way the iris combines with vetiver and galbanum to smell peppery and green. It also has elements of Dior Homme Intense, incorporating chocolate underneath, and Chanel No 18, with violets and icy ambrette. But despite the similarities to existing iris perfumes, L'Heure Promise keeps its own identity by being much more chalky and dry than any of these other perfumes. Definitely worth a try for iris fanatics!

A fresh, woody green floral niche outing from the "Les Heures de Parfum" collection by Cartier.

L'Heure Promise opens with a green foliage quality from the herbs and petitgrain. What grabs me most of all is the iris - with its lovely cooked carrot, violet-like powdery character. The fragrance devlops and creamy sandalwood and a tasteful musk enter in to provide a nice finish.

This is a fairly light scent, with moderate sillage that never becomes harsh. Comforting, pleasant, classy...these would be my descriptions of L'Heure Promise!

First Snow - circa by Robert Koehler 1895

I feel that this is Laurent's answer to 31 Rue Cambon. Instead of a patchouli base, however, it is sandalwood. It is a fresh, clean, crisp iris. I enjoyed it a lot. However, on my skin, it was linear, and evaporated quickly into nothing. Complete silence, not even static. I would like to try a sample, since my skin test was compromised by the fact that I was testing multiple fragrances in different places on my arms. Perhaps the others were too loud for me to pick up the whisper of L'Heure Promise.

L'Heure Promise is a simple scent, but it grew on me. It opens with a really lovely, natural-smelling iris, then unfolds into a soft, clean sandalwood with iris and musk. It makes your skin smell as if you just scrubbed it in sandalwood soap. I completely understand why anyone would object to paying a lot for this, but I find it a pleasure to wear when I'm in the mood for something clean and relaxing that doesn't smell generic. It's a soft scent, but I've been surprised when people have commented on it -- it turns out to have a lot of sillage.

L`Heure Promise, the fragrance that starts the Cartier collection, is inspired by the trend of green retro fragrances that showed in 2009, with examples of Cristalle Verte and Martin Margiela Untittled. While Margiela went on a more bitter direction, with use of galbanum, and Cristalle Verte modernized the chypre aroma of the original creation, mading it more citrus, lemony and aromatic, L`Heure Promise seems to interpret the tendency on a bucolic direction. It`d be an aroma that fitted like a glove annick goutal line. Mathilde Laurente here creates a grassy, carroty composition. The grass accord is what you smell at first, and seems like the aroma of fresh grass at morning. Then you notice the use of iris in a earthier direction. This iris seems more like orris note, having a carroty smell that completes the grass aroma. This fresh, green accord slowly fades to a musky creamy velvety woody aroma, that seems to last longer on me, although i have already read some complaints of longevity in this one.
It`s a simple tune of grassy carroty aromas and muskier, creamy woods. It`s a pitty, though, that this line has a high price tag and it`s hard to find. I don`t think that nice fragrances like this should be limited to few people by a high price tag. It end limiting the use of this beautiful morning scent.