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Habanita 1988 Eau de Toilette

Version from 1988
Ranked 487 in Women's Perfume
8.4 / 10 180 Ratings
A popular perfume by Molinard for women, released in 1988. The scent is oriental-spicy. Projection and longevity are above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Oriental
Spicy
Leathery
Floral
Smoky

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
GalbanumGalbanum MasticMastic PetitgrainPetitgrain
Heart Notes Heart Notes
CedarwoodCedarwood Grasse jasmineGrasse jasmine HeliotropeHeliotrope NutmegNutmeg Rosa centifoliaRosa centifolia VetiverVetiver Ylang-ylangYlang-ylang
Base Notes Base Notes
AmberAmber MuskMusk OakmossOakmoss PatchouliPatchouli SandalwoodSandalwood VanillaVanilla

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
8.4180 Ratings
Longevity
9.1137 Ratings
Sillage
8.5137 Ratings
Bottle
8.0133 Ratings
Value for money
6.719 Ratings
Submitted by ExUser · last update on 01/07/2026.
Source-backed & verified
Variant of the fragrance concentration
This is a variant of the perfume Habanita (1988) (Parfum) by Molinard, which differs in concentration.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Habanita Édition Privée (Eau de Parfum) by Molinard
Habanita Édition Privée Eau de Parfum
Habanita (1924) (Parfum) by Molinard
Habanita (1924) Parfum
Habanita (2012) (Eau de Parfum) by Molinard
Habanita (2012) Eau de Parfum
Habanita (1924) (Eau de Toilette) by Molinard
Habanita (1924) Eau de Toilette
Habanita (1988) (Parfum) by Molinard
Habanita (1988) Parfum
Habanita (1924) (Eau de Cologne) by Molinard
Habanita (1924) Eau de Cologne

Reviews

16 in-depth fragrance descriptions
Missk

1350 Reviews
Missk
Missk
5  
Sultry Leather
Molinard's Habanita was first designed as a fragrance to scent cigarettes. As an occasional smoker myself, I can certainly see how this fragrance could mesh well with the scent of smoky, stale tobacco smoke. Don't get me wrong, I love the smell of cigarettes, especially on a man even though I know it's a dirty habit. Molinard's Habanita for this reason, is a little piece of heaven.

Habanita opened quite strongly on my skin with rich, shiny leather notes, sweet, powdery peach and nose-burning resins. It was like a more potent version of Bvlgari's Black at first, dark, rubbery and slightly masculine.

As it settled, the floral accords began to immerge, in a sweet, baby-powderish manner with subtle hints of smokey tobacco, leather and resins. Occasionally it smelt like red vintage lipstick, that odd cosmetic smell I come across in classic scents sometimes. I find this combination quite delicious and strangely sexual, in a sadistic and masochistic way.

Habanita is the scent of a strong, confident and powerful woman who does not mess around, she gets straight down to business. It almost blows my mind with how raunchy and wicked this fragrance is. I love wearing this because it's so different from what I usually reach for on a daily basis.

My man, although he was a little taken aback at first, adores this scent on me. He says it smells like I've just spent the day with some hot lesbian bikers in leather get-up, smoked a few too many cigarettes and came back to him smelling clean and powdery but dirty at the same time. His description is actually far more exact than my own.

All in all, as I've said, this is an extremely powerful fragrance and one that lasts a decade on the skin too. I highly recommend to everyone and anyone, and I think those that dismiss it are fools because it's a classic for reason, and a good reason at that. Thankyou Adrien02 for gifting me this beautiful fragrance.
0 Comments
PerfumeBore

8 Reviews
PerfumeBore
PerfumeBore
2  
Lovely
This is one of those rare cases when I like the vintage formulation better than the modern one. The smell is very similar (dare I say "identical"?), but the materials are markedly different.

The modern one leaves a bit of a strange unpleasant smell on my skin, especially in the deep dry-down, when I sniff very close to the skin. It doesn't happen with the vintage.

I tried an EDT, which is quite comparable in strength to the modern EDP. The smell is deep, a tad sweet, with strong incensy-woody-leathery character to it. A prominent amber note with the resinous benzoin. I can swear I smell tobacco as well, even though the note is not listed. There is a dense floral body to the scent, although I would not call this a floral scent by any means.

A vintage formulation is definitely something I'd recommend trying to anyone who likes Habanita. Absolutely delightful.
0 Comments
MrsGuerlain

649 Reviews
MrsGuerlain
MrsGuerlain
3  
The hypothetical child
I have now read the reviews here, and all are really well written, some of them poetic and beautiful. So I shall just share my thoughts - and my nose - instead.
I prefere testing as soon as I get up. I therefore grabbed the glass tube on my shelf and dabbed Habanita on my wrist. When I put it on my first thought was: this is not an 8am scent… before testing I never read other reviews because I want to keep an open mind. Had I done so I would have waited a bit, maybe till 11am instead.
This is a spicy bomb, sending out a lot of notes from beginning to end. A really interesting opening with the mastic and petitgrain. I get an apothecary vibe here. This soon changes into a warm spicy cedar/nutmeg (I love nutmeg)/heliotrope combination so strong it enters my mouth as well as my nose. The vetiver shows up together with the vanilla in the dry-down and I must say that when combining vetiver and vanilla in this certain amount, it becomes so delicious I can not help myself sniffing my arm every other minute. There is not one ingredient too many in this scent.
Luca Turin calls this fragrance ‘the gorgeous, hypothetical child of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller’. What a great metaphor! Sensual and Poetic. So why on Earth is it discontinued?!
21/365
Updated on 04/23/2025
0 Comments
shengnu

94 Reviews
shengnu
shengnu
1  
Aged like a fine wine.
The vintage and the new version of Habanita are both beautiful and surprising. The vintage, however, has done what vanillas do with age, and become glorious.

The top notes of my vintage decant have faded slightly, but the vanilla-amber opening is thick, rich, boozy and extremely strong. It soars with a buttery sweetness approaching caramel and lasts a long time. Once the scent dries down to its powdery heliotrope center, there is a slight tartness throughout that I can't detect at all in the modern version. A tiny bit of greenness, and the edible-marzipan quality of the heliotrope mixed with the vanilla are also more pungent. And overall, the vintage perfume is (bucking a trend), much juicier and sweeter than the modern. It’s also incredibly rich, with a color approaching apple juice, a light gold.

The vintage of this rivals 70-year-old Shalimars in their crystal bottles, but there are far fewer vintage Habanitas available.

I imagine a 1920s heroine wearing this. Lotte Ritter from Babylon Berlin, intrepid detective by day and dominatrix/party animal by night. By day she dusts herself with sweet-smelling body powder, but she still reeks of the strong liquors she’s consumed the night before at the Moka Efti. The two identities- the seductress and the ingenue- bleed into each other and are impossible to separate.

I believe that Habanita 2012 could do something similar, given time. It just hasn’t aged enough to get there.
Updated on 05/19/2025
0 Comments
ClaireV

969 Reviews
ClaireV
ClaireV
2  
A giant in a field of gnats
At the heart of Habanita lies a soft, worn leather note that recalls the smell of the inside lapel of a well-loved leather jacket. It is an intimate smell, a beat-up leather mixed with twenty years of human skin rubbing up against it. It's not a leather with aspirations to luxury, like Chanel's Cuir de Russie, or leaning towards unbearably animalic, like Montale's Aoud Cuir d'Arabie. It's just a low-down, rough-copy leather, a smell with history, and aware of its humble beginnings as a liquid used to perfume cigarettes.

The leather note at the center reminds me somewhat of Onda by Vero Profumo. They don't smell alike, really, when taken as a whole. But the more I wear Habanita, the more I understand that Onda is the core of Habanita extracted, shaken clean of the powder, tonka, and the flowers, and reshaped as a gaspingly harsh leather chypre. The core accord in both is a grainy, grimy leather with a slightly unclean, carnal feel - a half-urinous, half-honeyed tobacco-like smell. There is also a whiff of floor disinfectant. Whereas this initially repulsed me, I now find this very sexy. It's a lived-in, intimate kind of smell. This combination of honey and tobacco or vetiver that works for me in a few of my other favorite fragrances as well, such as Serge Lutens' Fumerie Turque and Jardins D'Ecrivains' George.

There's a lot more going on in Habanita than in Onda, though. Whereas Onda is all about that fierce, dry honey-vetiver-leather, Habanita wraps it all up in a thick blanket of baby-powder florals (rose, heliotrope, and jasmine) and submerges it in a base of sandalwood and vanilla. I also get a buttery almond-like smell akin to the cherry tobacco smell of an unlit pipe, so perhaps there is tonka in there too (I'm convinced there is).

But despite the complex list of notes, I have to say that Habanita maintains its rather singular identity all the way through. It never smells overtly floral (although there are tons of flowers) or incense-y (although it has resins). Even the vanilla and the vetiver don't smell like vanilla and vetiver. The notes meld so completely with the honey, flowers, woods, and resins that their separate identities are consumed. What they give birth to is a new form - that nutty, dry leather core of Habanita.

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Statements

32 short views on the fragrance
4 months ago
1
This was my mom’s signature later in life, wore it day and night. She knew it from some earlier time in her life. Spicy patchouli amber.
0 Comments
46
41
Herbal gaze
Galbanum eyes
Powdery sheen of petitgrain
Dress of jasmine
Skin leather-white vanilla
You stride through earthy
Soapy mosses
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41 Comments
42
52
Love is a wild bird
With fiery wings
And vanilla eyes
Rough like vetiver
And soft like sandalwood
But if I love you
Watch out!
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52 Comments
39
26
First released in 1924, Habanita embodies the beginnings of female emancipation. Androgynous, strong-willed, and independent.
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26 Comments
25
7
12 out of 10:
if a fragrance makes me shed a tear on a train that's at least half full, that says it all.
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7 Comments
21
10
Smoky, dark-spicy intensity, dusty warmth, and a softly sweet "bite-me" base to roll around in. So rrrrrrr....
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10 Comments
17
17
Habanita has always been too heavy for me, applied thickly, mega-erotic, without really being appealing. Rich, animalistic, uff! Even as an EdT...
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17 Comments
16
10
The 80s powerhouses never cease to amaze: a full-bodied, spicy floral bouquet rich in aromas and strength. Timeless beautiful femininity.
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10 Comments
10 years ago
17
2
Last gas station before paradise
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2 Comments
16
6
Night. Powder. Smoke. Depth. Sensuality. It's a shame that something so alluring has been discontinued. An oriental unique.
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