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.
