This eau de toilette was released as a cigarette flavour to soften the smell of tobacco. Last year, Habanita Molinard celebrated its centenary, but has not lost its relevance. But as professional perfumers joke that this eau de toilette used to smell like tobacco and the thigh of a mulatto woman, but now it’s just a thigh – a smell of heated up skin.
But nevertheless, this is the smell of luxury and abundance of the “Roaring 20s”, when women won their rights, and perfume and fashion houses made history!
What Is The Story Of Habanita?
Molinard Habanita leaves no one indifferent. Someone from the first acquaintance with this smell rejects it completely, but for someone it is love for life. For some, Habanita is the mischievous and sexy Carmen, for others, a Cuban old woman with a fiery heart who sings hoarsely while drinking rum and rolls a cigar on her hip. Do you want to understand the nature of the composition? Then imagine yourself at a young age: you are in an old leather jacket, smoking a cigar in a closed room, and a vase with a rose stands far away from you. Got the idea? The Molinard catalogue of 1949 describes Habanita as follows: “This magnificent perfume smells differently on every woman, and always harmoniously, blending with her personality. His peculiar tenacity is unique.”
Habanita was originally launched in 1921 as a cigarette flavour to soften the smell of tobacco. In the twenties of the last century, smoking has already become a mass habit, especially among fashionable and emancipated young women. After Eleanor Roosevelt and other celebrities allowed themselves to smoke in society, the tobacco industry made a bet on the beautiful half of humanity, attracting their attention with exquisite mouthpieces and cigarettes flavoured with violet, rose and amber.
Perfume expert Lizzy Ostrom, author of Perfume. A History of 20th Century Fragrance writes: “The tobacco industry had some affinity with perfumery. This relationship was not only in the fact that the smoke from the incense also rose to the skies, but also in the fact that marketers had to promote these two products using visual language, because they could not be felt, everything was recognized only from personal experience. So cigarette ads are similar to early perfume ads: the allure of the Orient, the suggestion that one can be transported into a dream world under the influence of tobacco and perfume. There was also the fetishism of beautifully illustrated comics depicting cigarettes or bottles. Perfume boxes were touted as the perfect place to store cigarettes at home. Elegant Bakelite evening bags invited women to take with them a small bottle of perfume and cigarettes. And finally, there was also the DIY option: packs of tiny disposable brushes that you could dip in your favourite perfume and then scented with cigarette paper.”
In general, Habanita Molinard is a perfume that either makes you fall in love with yourself forever, and then it is impossible to imagine life without it, or, conversely, it is not perceived at all. A matter of taste!