"Imagine to walk in an oriental spice bazaar, with a bunch of exotic flowers in your hands, and a leather factory on your left, and a tobacco manufacture on your right....and suddenly a cloud of talc powder comes down to surround you. This is Habanita."
This is a good description of one of the most legendary perfumes in history: Habanita de Molinard.
You will find spices, tobacco, leather, flowers, talc powder, blended all together. It seems Habanita has been fulfilled with almost every ingredient used in perfumery. Actually, according Molinard, Habanita contains more than 600 (!) ingredients.
Apparently, according to tradition, Habanita could stay in the group of those perfumes called "feminine but masculine": Tabac Blond de Caron, Bandit de Robert Piguet, Cabochard by Grès, Jolie Madame by Balmain. But, in my opinion, Habanita is more similar to another lost gem from the past: Tabu by Dana. However, if you know and appreciate any of these perfumes, you will feel comfortable with Habanita. In addition, sporting a strong tobacco/spice/leather core, Habanita could fit perfectly for men, too. Be careful, Habanita stands on its own feet and it's immediately recognizable. You can't be wrong: when you smell it, you immediately say: this is Habanita.
As usual, you can read tons of review about Habanita on the web, so we'll leave floor to a few of highly estimated reviewers (listed at the end of this article).
Hanbanita is in production since 1921 and was probably reformulated several times. Good ol' friend Gianni Ambrosio, the now-retired retailer from Milan, generously borrowed me a couple of vintage EdT bottles from his collection, plus the modern EdP version on sale today, for a comparative review. Laura added a small sample of her precious older vintage. So I was able to perform a really comprehensive review.
How does vintage Habanita de Molinard perform in front of the modern one? Firstly, we have to learn something about different versions, bottles and packages used during last decades.
So, let's go and see!
Since 1980 Habanita changed four boxes and bottles, and each time *apparently* underwent a reformulation (we are considering the scent produced since the 1980s and tested here, but there are other versions, not tested in this review).
Briefly:
1) Transparent bottle with "syllables" on the front (i.e. HA/ BA/ NI/ TA) (produced from 1980 until 1988)
2) Lalique-type "squared" bottle (produced from 1988 until 2005)
3) Lalique-type "tall" or "Anniversary" bottle (produced from 2005 until 2012)
4) Modern bottle (EdP only, in production since 2012)
Pictures:
1) Transparent bottle with "syllables" on the front
(i.e. HA/ BA/ NI/ TA) (from 1980 until 1988)
(i.e. HA/ BA/ NI/ TA) (from 1980 until 1988)
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From 1980 until 1988: transparent bottle with "syllables" (HA-BA-NI-TA) |
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EdT box and bottle (1980-1988) |
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Year 1983 advertisement |
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2) Lalique-type "squared" bottle
(from 1988 until 2005)
Year 1988 advertisement |
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Year 1991 advertisement |
Lalique-type "squared" black bottle. |
Without barcode: before 1990
Barcode without Greendot = between 1990 and 1992
With Barcode and Greendot: after 1992.
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3) Lalique-type "tall" or "Anniversary" bottle
(from 2005 until 2012)
(from 2005 until 2012)
From 2006 until 2012. Lalique-type "Tall"/"Anniversary" black bottle |
Year 2006 ad |
(When you read the long list of ingredients on the box it means "produced after 2005") |
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4) Modern bottle
(since 2012)
(since 2012)
"Lalique-type" (1987-2000s) 25ml spray bottle |
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The two old "Lalique-type"
bottles in details
The olfactive pyramid according to Molinard (2012)
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An OLDER BOTTLE
We considered the 1980s "syllable" bottle as the first.
Actually, during the Seventies there was another
older bottle, not tested in this review:
the "Black Sticker" one. Here it is:
the "Black Sticker" one. Here it is:
Black sticker bottle (1970s) |
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....and many, many older bottles from 1921 to 1960.
(Images provided by readers)
(Images provided by readers)
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Interested in Habanita?
Read here...
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....and...
Batch-codes
Year-of-production,
all-you-need-to-know
about vintage perfumes in the following pages:
-GUERLAIN perfumes ( here )
-YVES SAINT LAURENT perfumes ( here )
-CHRISTIAN DIOR perfumes ( here )
-GIORGIO ARMANI Perfumes ( here )
-VAN CLEEF et ARPELS perfumes ( here )
-CHANEL perfumes ( here )
-BVLGARI perfumes ( here )
-HERMES perfumes ( here )
-VERSACE perfumes ( here )
-GIVENCHY perfumes ( here )
-GUY LAROCHE perfumes (here)
-CACHAREL perfumes ( here )
-ROCHAS perfumes (here)
-GUY LAROCHE perfumes (here)
-CACHAREL perfumes ( here )
-ROCHAS perfumes (here)
-JEAN PATOU perfumes (here)
-CARON perfumes (here)
-CALVIN KLEIN perfumes (here)
-RALPH LAUREN perfumes (here)
-JEAN PAUL GAULTIER perfumes (here)
-GUCCI perfumes (here)
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