Hope

LOVE IT. Blind buy gone right, thanks to fragrantica's list of notes, which looked like a short compilation of all the things I love most in scents - and let me jump on a discount FB of this. I'd never have gambled on it otherwise, but am so glad I did. Beautifully butch, gorgeously natural, intensely aromatic smell of the inside of a well-treated cypress box. This one really finds that harmonious sweet spot between sharp, conifer freshness and deep warm spicy hardwood. But it's pretty uncompromising - I think the review below slightly understates how individual and assertive it is. These are some very moody resins indeed, tapped from a spiky, steep, hard-to-hike forest upland. It's pretty ascetic in its way- there's no honey or sugar-sweetness and no flowers to soften it up - and the cypriol is so bossy it's almost bullying at times. However, the orange is dry-spicy-aromatic rather than wet-sour, which works beautifully (I smelled no candy sweetness there, though.) Overall it hangs together brilliantly - just deliciously rich and warm. Yes, it's unisex (I'm crazy for it, and am female) - but it does skew quite strongly masculine in my opinion. Performance is rock solid, though projection is discreet. Pretty linear, though growing a bit more mellow over time.

Another home run from Agonist. Typically, a challenging beginning with smokey cypress that transforms into a warm woody heart and ending because of the prominence of cypriol. The strong pepper note is counteracted by the candied orange scent. It is the scent of a forest on fire, with the smell of the trees, wood, leaves on the trees and grounds, and more. In my mind, Hope is a Nordic version of Journey Man by Amouage probably because of the presence of cypriol. I consider Agonist's creations to be more of an Indie or 'Art-House', hence I would not recommend blind buying, particularly for novice fragrance lovers. My favourites from the house are Dark Saphir, Black Amber and now, Hope. 8/10 Hope you have a good day (excuse the pun :)

Beautiful. No pencil shavings, no razor edges. Cool, distant, transparent scent, so refined and classy. Perfect unisex. I feel balance and comfort wearing Hope. Such a cool way to stand out of the crowd.

love it, perfect base for layering, a lovely woody smoky scent.

Another of my favorite "safe" scents which can be easily worn in any type of setting by anyone without offending anybody, this modern abstract offering by Agonist in collaboration with the Swedish design house "Hope", combines wood, citrus and spice elements such as orange, pepper, juniper, cedar, incense, cypress, thyme, cypriol oil or nagarmotha, amber and vetiver to create a fresh woody spice scent that has a spare Nordic feel to it. A bit of a slow starter and with soft to moderate sillage, this is very sophisticated yet very subdued and spare. Much like Owari by Odin, the orange note predominates. I dont think this will be around for long because such scents can be a bit polarizing this is worth trying for adventurous perfume lovers who are looking for uncommon yet safe scents to wear in regular work settings.

This smells very herbal, like an essential oils mixture but more airy. There is both depth and that little thin cloud like a haze that envelopes you in herbs. Think of an herbal dry sauna and that is what Hope smells like. It's great, just not sure if that is what I would like to smell like when going to work ^^ a solid like.

This smells really strong from up close, but actually doesn't project which is odd... It's a very sharp scent, smells almost like a herbal remedy of some sort... I gave it to my boyfriend to test, I wouldn't wear it myself but he didn't really like it either.

I'm testing this from a decant sent by trabuquera (whose far more in depth review is immediately below). Powerful and punchy on first spritz, I initially found this a very challenging and overwhelmingly smoked wood scent. Hope dries down to a far more manageable level as the orange comes out to play - but it's still rather too harsh and "butch" for me, unfortunately. I am rather disappointed as the notes really looked as if they'd ding my dong. It's been an unseasonably warm early autumn day and evening, so I'll give Hope another chance when the weather's cooled down and update my review if Hope changes for the better (for me).

A smoky fir forest. No jungle here, no rainforest. It isn't the Amazonia. It is a distant, cold and dark fir forest somewhere up North. Incense from the church, chill atmosphere and winter.