Reviews of Promesse de l'Aube / FK1 (2006)
by MDCI

This didn't blow me away and left me rather unaffected. It's not vile but it doesn't wow me. It feels mediocre and reminds me when I was young, perfumes when Tresor and Dune were the most popular scents out there. For the price you want to be head over heels and not left feeling ' not bad, but not great either' .

Promesse de l’Aube is a sweet, delicate, and exceptionally pretty peach chypre scent that marries classical structure to modern transparency. It’s precisely what I imagine Mitsouko would have smelled like when she was a little girl of ten or eleven, before she developed feminine wiles, gained carnal knowledge, and became jaded. As befits so poised a fragrance, projection, sillage, and longevity are all well modulated, and Promesse de l’Aube remains radiantly sweet right through its feather-light vanilla chypre drydown. Writing this description I realize that Promesse de l’Aube is also very close to Aurélien Guichard’s Chinatown, though without some of the intentionally dissonant earthy elements that make Chinatown so compellingly odd. Compared to either of these other peach-centered fragrances, Promesse de l’Aube is not only clean, but bland. There is a coy, precious quality about this scent’s beauty that evokes a porcelain doll more than a living woman.

Promesse de l’Aube is undeniably beautiful, but its pricing makes the already exorbitant and frankly more distinctive Chinatown look like a bargain at about $200 US for 100 ml. Promesse de l’Aube is nice, but it’s not that nice. Granted, the Parfums MDCI bottle is pretty cool, but then Chinatown has a nice bottle, too. And if you’re serious about peach in a chypre context, there’s always Mitsouko. Even the 1 oz. Mitsouko parfum is far less costly than this Parfums MDCI offering.

Instant adoration. Out of my prize range. I fear this is aimed at a target market that doesn't include me, but its charms may be lost on some people who may mostly be seduced by the very exclusivity that the price point creates (that, or the showy bottle).

Alas, this is a heartbreakingly beautiful floral with sweet fruity, citrus and chypre tones. Feels grown up, perfume-y (in a good way); little skanky. It seems to last well, even in hot weather.

A very well balanced fruity-floral chypre. The tip-top is sweet citrus, followed by a lovely accord of peach and rose. Floral-mossy-woody middle. The drydown has a surprising hint of rosemary. Long-lasting and well composed. Now if only the price were more reasonable...

I call this Eau de Spiteful Grandmother. At the topnote, it tells an eight-year-old that she looks fat in her dance recital costume. Then the heartnote opens up, and you get a very strong complaint of having had to ride on an elevator with a (whisper) *black*. The basenote lets its horrid little dog bite you and tells you that it couldn't possibly have hurt. At the drydown, right before it fades, it gives all the jewelry to its friends's daughter because you never admired it even once.

I hate myself in this scent and would take great pleasure in not giving myself a seat on the bus.

Beginning with a floral bouquet and ending with a long, warm vanilla rain, this scent is lovely and comforting, but not especially compelling. Its first few minutes are by far its best.