The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Habiba is a 2025 composition from Angéline Leporini built around a specific emotional register: warmth that earns attention rather than demanding it. The brief was clear from the start. Leporini wanted to create something that would linger in memory without announcing itself. The goal was a scent that felt both immediate and lasting, something you would notice without quite knowing why, then find yourself coming back to again and again. What Leporini delivered is bright, fruity, and quietly impossible to forget. It feels inevitable in retrospect, as if it could only have turned out this way.
The structure here deserves a closer look. Habiba opens with green apple first, which grounds the lychee before the sweetness can get ahead of itself. White flowers and red fruits arrive in the heart not as a wall of petals but as a slow bloom, each layer building on the last rather than competing. The caramel base is where the story earns its name. It's not a sharp gourmand moment. It's warmth that accumulates over hours, settling into skin rather than sitting on top of it. This is the version you'll keep coming back to.
The evolution
The opening hits bright. Green apple and lychee arrive together, the lychee adding a tropical undertone that keeps the apple from veering into something too sharp. The green note begins to recede, not disappearing, just making room. The white flowers and red fruits take over the conversation, with amber adding a subtle warmth underneath that you feel more than smell. By the time the florals have softened, the caramel begins its slow rise. Here's the thing about the drydown: it takes its time. The moss and musk work together to ground the sweetness, keeping it from going one-dimensional. There comes a point where the fragrance stops being something you're wearing and becomes something that simply is. You smell like yourself, but better. The next morning, there's a faint warmth on the wrist, skin-warm and intimate, the kind of thing only the wearer notices.
Cultural impact
Habiba offers warmth without weight and sweetness without falling into familiar traps. The green apple opening sets a tone that feels both crisp and inviting, while the mossy drydown provides a grounding quality that gives the fragrance real staying power. For the wearer who wants something bright and fruity that doesn't sacrifice depth or longevity, Habiba deserves consideration.
