Parfums Molinard - Parfumeur à Grasse depuis 1849
Rated • 2 reviews • perfume • molinard.com
Habanita
Imagine my excitement when the very last fragrance described in one of my books on perfume is their 1921 Habanita. In the orientals section (my favourite type of fragrance), this final entry, preserved as a sort of parting gift, feels like a great secret is about to be revealed to you. On reading about Habanita, I immediately resented all other readers of this book for also knowing what I was about to discover.
Captivatingly the entry starts:
" Corrupt, sweet flesh of a sinner. This forgotten masterpiece makes many orientals of recent years seem like vulgar upstarts."
My mission: to track down a flacon of Habanita, and possibly prepare myself to relinquish Coco Chanel to second place. Heartbreaking as the possibility was, I was prepared to risk it for such a perfume.
After a long search, I finally found a sample for sale on Molinard's website (should have gone there first). Some €8.5 for the bottle didn't seem extortionate as you get 7.5ml and I was prepared to pay the exorbitant shipping cost, too. This was Habanita after all. From Molinard. In Grasse.
The perfume eventually arrived after what seemed an interminable period. I opened the heavy package, unwrapped the chunky black bottle from it's demeaning bubble wrap (I would have expected this perfume to come wrapped in silk underwear), and quickly summoned my wife to share in the rapturous pleasure of 'the sweet flesh of a sinner'. We looked at each other in anticipation as I unscrewed the golden cap, dabbed some on our skin, waited a second or two and then inhaled.
I have never, in my whole life, smelled a perfume as revolting as this one.
A bitter, acrid miasma assaulted my throat and even seemed to invade my Eustachian tubes holding on tightly with its noxious grip. Unfortunately I touched Habanita to the tip of my nose, and so had to endure the assault for hours afterwards. Washing my arm and face only served to remove the top and middle notes and leave behind the tenaciously abusive base.
If any chemists happen to read this, I can only describe this as the sensation one gets when inhaling Tetrahydrofuran vapours. This smell doesn't go away, it doesn't vanish with the top notes as I hoped it would, in fact it intensifies during dry-down. It gets worse as time goes on. What?!
Coco Chanel is still in first place
Top: bergamot, peach, orange flower.
Middle: oakmoss, jasmine de grasse, patchouli.
Base: Ambergris, leather, vetiver, benzoin, vanilla.
Is this what ambergris smells like? I think I have a new mission.">
