Hope

[Gin]

Simplicity and innocence, gleefully despoiled! Sugared rose.

Sugared rose, indeed. Maybe a touch of vanilla? Hope is a pretty sweet pink rose.

[Alethia]

Wet: Beautiful blend of rose and sugar, but not overbearingly sweet or cloying.

 

Drydown: Why hello there sugar. This wasn't an unpleasant scent, but the complete domination of the sugar kind of took me by surprise. I'm not a particularly foody/sweet kind of girl, but I figured I'd keep it on just to make sure.

 

Completely dry: Oh my stars and garters. This has turned into almost a carmelized sugar with a dusting of rose. I couldn't stop huffing my wrist. I need to try all of the BPAL oils with sugar in them now because I am smitten! Love this

[Aldercy]

I have dark rose blends, red rose blends, white rose blends... but I can't say that I've ever liked any rose scents that struck me as "pink" until now. Hope definitely has a rich velvet pinkness about it, but it's lovely-- not fake or girly or watered-down. There's a raw, white sugar glaze over the rose base that's just gorgeous. The "texture" of the sugar note is really interesting to me-- crystallized and gritty, but a little melty and scorched, too, like it's been briefly blow-torched for creme brulee. Overall, it's a beautiful scent.

 

I love the simplicity of this. You know exactly what you're getting, yet it's not flat or one-dimensional. If you have even a little affection for rose, you've got to try Hope.

[Mae]

I finally got my hands on a full bottle of Hope (and Faith!). What a difference a new bottle makes! I don't have so much sugar on me, just some very pleasant roses. I was not a flower fan, even less of a rose fan, due to most roses being overpowering. This is quite nice, tho, without the super-powdery bottom notes that can cause headaches. I think with some time, this will age to something especially lovely.

 

Mae

[saralaughs]

Very lovely rose. Slightly sweet and lush. Perhaps a touch of vanilla? Or that just may be the creaminess of the rose itself. A bit sour somewhere in the drydown but that goes away after a bit. Dry it reminds me quite a bit of Pink Snowballs.

[angelamaria]

In decant: sweet candied rose. I don't think there's much else I can say about it; it's candied rose but not highly/airily sweet.

 

Wet on skin: yep. Rooooose. A red rose, deep and VERY floral, with an almost-creamy sweetness. Very pretty, and at this stage the powder is kept somewhat in check, which makes me wonder if this is not actually a white rose rather than a red one (since white roses can work on my skin to varying degrees), but this is definitely a deep rosy rose (cough). As such, I'm not sure i like it so much. Did I mention it's a very rosy rose?

 

Dry: sadly, all dried up, it's turned into a mix of dusty and powdery sour rose with a touch of sweet cream...but with SOME rose still fighting in, and lending it a really odd powder/rose/sour/sweet mishmash of notes. Confusing, and rose being rose, quite too heady a floral for me.

 

Verdict: well, I certainly wasn't holding much hope for this one, because of all that rose.

[ChristineFury]

In the bottle: Oh no, this is almost TOO much rose! Rose has a nasty tendency to turn to powder and laundry detergent on me.

 

Wet: The rose is almost too much, but the sugar is warming with my skin tone, and it's turning into something GLORIOUS.

 

Dry: The only rose scent I can wear. It's feminine, but not cloying, warmed by sugar and comes off as almost a Lolita type scent- innocent with a darkness lurking beneath. She layers AMAZINGLY with her sister, Faith. Definitely my go-to scent for when I want to smell innocent.

 

(I've had these for a few years and they age superbly!)

[ObliqueRed]

On me, Hope is creamy-sweet but with an almost sharp rose note. I like it but for pure rose I'll always go Rose Red, and if I want a softer rose I'll turn to Pink Snowballs.

[GoddesShel]

A true rose - almost not-sweet-enough until the dry down, when the sugar comes out and makes this heavenly.

[tinyvulture]

I've "hoped" (hehhh) for a decant of Hope for years, since I love Faith and sugared florals in general. She's so beautiful. A perfect fresh tea rose, sweet and vibrant. Now I hope she comes back when the Carnival returns, cause I definitely need a bottle.

[ModderRhu]

this smells just like Antique Lace with just a little sugary rose added. seriously, this is the closest perfume to antique lace and I've smelled most of the ones people recommend as dupes of AL. it's a very creamy, marshmallowy rose with great throw and lasting power. might be great for rose haters. very youthful smelling.

[lexyOZ]

I just received an imp of this and it is an absolute dead ringer for YOSH Sottile perfume oil which I like, but currently retails for $US130 for 8mL. I will be buying every bottle of this I can when the next CD act drops. I don't really get much of the sugar that others have. On me, it's just a very pretty and ladylike rose. I find rose tends to do better on my skin when it's as simple and single-note as possible and this is just lovely.

[kscha2017]

2016

 

Being a rose fan, I slathered a goodly amount of this on. Whereas Faith blooms large and lasts without fading, Hope is much more shy on my skin. I was expecting just the opposite (bold rose, shy violet). Hope blooms and rapidly fades to almost nothing, being detectable only if I press my nose right on the spot. It seems less sugary/musky than Faith as well, although when sniffing from the bottles they are equal.

[Hattress]

2016 Version

 

Pink Snowballs. Hope is almost identical to my 2011 Pink Snowballs. It might be a little stronger, but not by much, and it fades within about 4 hours or so.

[Haltija]

I definitely agree with the previous reviewer in saying it is reminiscent of Pink Snowballs. It only smells similar to it in the bottle to me though. On the skin it's just beautiful and I have enough rose scents for a army, but I can never have enough. This is one of the prettiest rose scents I own and one of the most simple ones as well. The sugar is dusted over top, almost like you took the petals and just dipped them in sugar water or sugar crystals for a few hours and it's kind of creamy too.

 

It's undeniably feminine and I love that about it.

[LizziesLuck]

2016

 

When wet, I can distinctly pick out a rose note (red, I believe, similar to the red rose note in Whip) and the powdered sugar note I have never smelled BPAL's powdered sugar note before (or at least never been able to pick it out so clearly) and it's quite lovely!

 

Once dry, the two notes blend seamlessly together. The combination of sugary goodness and rose is quite similar to Love (Pickmans) on me. Which is not terrible at all. I really like it. I have a ton of rose in my collection, but I can see making room for this. <3

[Teamama]

2016 Hope, lab purchase with her twin Faith.

 

Alone, Hope is a sweet, sheer pink rose type fragrance. Not a lot of throw. It reminds me a little of the roses in Obsidian Widow and Love; kind of candied.

 

Frankly, I would not wear Hope alone. I believe the sheerness of Hope is intentional, because it's half of a pair of twins. I wore Hope on one arm, Faith on the other, and was surprised and seduced by the interplay between them. I'm much fonder of roses than violets usually, but I'm going to wear these together, every time.

 

I wish there was a way to review H&F together. They're "nice" by themselves, but together they're exponentially better! I encourage everyone who gets H&F to trust Beth on this one, and test them together before deciding to re-home one of the twins.

Edited to add: worn together, H&F are REALLY long-lasting. 10 hours.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Teamama

[freyasfae]

This reminds me a lot of the rose in Somewhere or Other and Roses, Pearls, Diamonds, it's a pink rose and there's even a slight fizziness that reminds me of sugar crystals. It verges at times on going plasticky like Love from the Pickman gallery does, but mostly stays a sweet and delicate pink rose.

Edited May 10, 2016 by freyasfae

[Kay Torres]

Candied rose petals. After years of avoiding rose like the plague, I'm quickly discovering that I'm a sucker for rose scents. This is sweet, beautiful and delicate. Others have said that this has a low throw and a short life. I haven't found that to be the case. On me this has a medium throw and was still present 16 hours after initial application.

 

*eta* I cannot say enough good things about this, I've been wearing this a lot, and a full bottle is indeed in my near future. I love, love, love it. It's very innocent and romantic on its own, and it layers beautifully with almost every rose scent that I've managed to snag.

Edited May 30, 2016 by SunsetKay

[Convallaria]

(2016 version, never sniffed the old one.)

Like Faith, first few second were a blast of syrup - but the cause might be the heat, because I couldn't resist testing bottles straight off the delivery truck. But it didn't last a full minute and then it's all rose jam. I think the sweetness is amber in origin. Drydown goes pleasantly powdery, yet different from Faith - I think that "sweet" component of twins might not be identical. Or perhaps it's some remains of floral still influencing it. But most of the show belongs to decently balanced blend of flower and preserve syrup that sticks around for a long time. The throw is rather strong for BPAL, too. (And yes, I think it's stronger than Faith - I had them on opposing wrists.) Rose has a few soapy moments if you sniff too close, but overall effect from afar is rose preserves and nothing more or less.

 

Despite being pretty much what it says on the tin - flower+syrup - both Faith and Hope felt complete to me on their own. That said, layering them gives a more than pleasant end result too. If you find Faith too cloying, the rose note in Hope is slightly "cleaner" than Faith's violet and it might help elevate it a bit. Mind you, it also makes for a very heavy, complex combination that might not be suited for every occasion. The blend is also very long-lasting.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Convallaria

[VetchVesper]

I just received an aged decant of this from a lovely forumite, (not sure what year) and I'm finding I really like it. I was worried that "sugared rose" might equal candy rose and this might be too syrupy, but Hope is just a very authentic smelling rose oil that leans on the sweet and light side. I've had some issues with some of the labs rose notes going sour on me, but Hope is doing just fine. After a few hours, the rose fades and it becomes more of a light, sweet vanilla on me, but I don't mind reapplying. I could see buying a bottle of this.

[Psycry]

I love Faith, love it...and I was hoping for the same for Hope, even though I'm....not a huge rose-a-holic. I'm in love with Rose Red, but for this, I was hoping just for a sweet, understated rose, you know, the rose counterpart of Faith.

 

Nope.

 

No way.

 

Uh-uh.

 

Bath cubes, HUGE throw, and a half hour after I've put it on, I can barely breathe through my nose.

 

Maybe I'll be able to find someone who loves Hope, and doesn't like Faith to swap with, and it will make us both happy.

[zankoku_zen]

2016 version

 

Bear in mind, I haven't tried Hope in a long long time. And my tastes have changed. On wet, it smells most strong of rose water. As it dries, I get the sugared aspect much more and I'd definitely call it a sugared rose water at this point.

[roseus]

Fresh, pink rose and I agree with zankoku_zen, very rosewater-y. I get a sprinkling of white sugar over the top, and I think a little vanilla. Completely dry I get a clean freshness that I associate with white musk as well.

[Cali]

The same rose I get from The peacock queen, which is my favourite! Definately sugary sweet. So, the peacock queen but surrounded by sugar to me. Not bad, but I don't think it's special enough for me. Lovely though.