Greetings all,

I have a question. I recently bought a new bottle of Habanita EDT to replace the one I had just used up. I notice with the remains of the old bottle, that the powder and 'cigarish' notes had faded a great deal, with the new bottle they seem to be absent entirely.... I compared the ingredients for both bottles, exactly the same....What gives??

Has anyone else noticed this either with Habanita or any other fragrance, that it behaves completely differently on them even within a few weeks or months? Could it be my chemistry?

Chemistry can change, perfume can be different from batch to batch, and sometimes perfumes are reformulated.

Maybe you could have gotten something old too. It could be a number of things, hard to say.

Lorelei, scentsablyurs has given a number of very likely possibilities. I too have found perfumes can smell different from batch to batch. Maybe a lot of people wouldn't notice the subtle nuances but the tiniest change will be perceptible to a perfumista. One other factor I have experienced is sometimes with a very new bottle is it can take some time for the perfume to "settle down" and blend together well. I suspect that sometimes perfumes are put on the market too quickly and have not had enough time to blend and mellow. It's hard to say anything definite about your Habanita but sometimes time can be a factor.

I agree with Five-O. Actually, I think there is a lot going on with older formulas right now. The manufacturers are trying to align with regulations resulting in significant changes in the original formulas. Any older fragrance bottled since 2005 is under suspicion in my book. I think many things have changed including the chemicals used for topnotes and the alcohols. I spritzed some Paloma Picasso edp at TJMaxx the other day. It didn't smell like Paloma Picasso at all! It smelled of chemicals and a sorta hairspray/shampoo generic note. As for the boxes, well, I have an older bottle of Paloma with the exact same ingredients listed that smells "right". It's getting really complicated buying older fragrances these days that haven't been ruined. I have a bottle of Chant d'Aromes, a newer one, smells aweful. I've stuck it in the back of my closet hoping some miracle with transform it with time. You aren't imagining things, if it's a newer bottle of anything old, it's probably aweful. Sad, isn't it? So far, Estee Lauder doesn't appear to have ruined anything. I checked Azuree yesterday, and it's still delightful.

22, ITA about Azurée. Smelled it at the NYC sniffa and it is wonderful!

Thank you ladies for your most helpful responses! This is really beginning to become an issue for me, I get to rely on a perfume and love every note/ nuance, then I find something seemingly different in the next bottle....* sigh* Before I registered here, I was reading a thread about letting Chanel No 5 EDP mature in the bottle before using it, I do this too, as it definitely improves on keeping. I always have a bottle ' maturing' in reserve! Maybe my Habanita will develop it's famous oomph in a few weeks...* crosses fingers*

Luca doesn't mention any changes to it in The Guide and he seems to pick up on any noticeable changes to formulas. Perhaps he just didn't mention it.

Barry

I have 3 vintage bottles of Habanita. One is pure parfum and the other two are EDC.
The scent is uniformly flowery, powdery, ciggie-butt pure and true in all three bottles.

I have one bottle of new Habanita and it is pure powder. No ciggie-butt at all.

Lorelei, ITA about Chanel No 5--in my case, it's the parfum. I like to keep a supply of one bottle ahead because I find it improves with age and needs the time to mature.

Thanks Prince Barry, thats good to know that Luca hasn't mentioned anything so far.


Lmatch, no ciggie butt for me or even powder, it seems more medicinal and leathery which is nice and easier to wear, I have the parfum too and the EDT now seems indistinguishable to that....* scratches head*

FiveO, I was sitting here nodding in agreement a long time ago here reading that Chanel thread, I thought I was the only one who did that - just proves perfumistas think alike and do notice these things!

Oh no! I've just ordered an 8 ml sample of Habanita. Does this mean I going to get a ghost of what this scent used to be?

So sick of this! The world is run by clueless bean-counters, it seems,more and more.

ALL my perfumes were giving me fits..........I was hardly wearing it anymore. Or so little...........anyway......I realized that I had started wearing a HRT patch. That messed up my sniffer. It was very hyper sensitive..

Olfacta, I hope you are delighted with your Habanita sample, it could just be my perception of it now.

Glorious, that must be so annoying to not be able to tolerate your beloved perfumes because of the patch, I hope your sense of smell normalizes soon.

Just got my sample of Habinita; very powderey and I could also smell that ashtray note at first, although it's gone more powdery on the dry-down. I just sprayed some on my wrist but didn't really analyze it so far. It does appear to have legs, which is unusual for an EDC on me. Maybe your bottle was an odd one out, or my sample is well-aged, who knows.

Interesting and useful to hear your impressions, thank you! What do you think of it? Is it full bottle worthy?

Hi Lorelei -- I'm looking for the vintage version, but if I can't find it, I'll go for the current one eventually. DH likes it, which is unusual!

Regards, Olfacta

Hi Olfacta, I hope you do manage to find the vintage stuff, I bet it is magnificent! My Husband adores Habanita, he always comments favourably when I wear it, so I am pleased to hear your Hubby likes it too!