Queen of Sheba

[Gold Dust Kitten]

… Her scent is a bounty of golden honeyed almonds and a whisper of African and Middle Eastern spices.

AAACK! ALMONDS! Spicy, sickenenly (is that a word?) sweet almonds.

[Balame]

In the Imp: Jesus not the almonds. Sometimes I wonder why I test things even when I know they're going to scar me.

 

Wet: ALMONDS. Dry, spicy, alcohol cherry almonds in their full force. Totally overpowering.

 

Dry: I am just barely hanging on here, almonds are a note of death on me. Uhm. It's dry almonds and almonds.

 

Overall: Sorry, just far too painful to do much of an in-depth review on this one. I didn't feel there was much going on in the additional spices department, though that could just be because I was too busy cringing at the incredibly powerful almonds. If you do like them, however, the great news is that you'll probably love this scent!

[EmmiKristiina]

A bitter almondy scent, the spices are lovely. I might keep it, but I'm not sure yet, it might be too bitter for my taste.

[Honey]

Oh my.. I LOVE this scent so much!

 

 

Bottle: Toasted or roasted almonds with something.. peppery in the background. Peppercorn, pimento or cardamom.

 

Wet: Nutty, peppery and spicy. So luxurious and divine. There is something.. earthy, tart and dark.. could be patchouli and/or vetiver.

 

Dry: Smells like jasmine rice?! Yes, that's nutty and slightly spiced rice alright that borders on roasted almonds. Good thing this is not like sweet marzipan. A nice and delicate blend of spices takes a while to show up but it is really lovely.

[Circaea]

Thai food. Seriously. This is making me so hungry.

 

On the plus side, it won't interfere with my enjoyment of my meal. If I'm having Thai food. Which I think I will.

[sabrebabe]

In the bottle: weird, slightly sweet, slightly woody. This has potential!

On the skin: rancid like dead animal/old meat. Oh dear...

Later: more sweetly rancid. Not good.

Much, much later (after washing repeatedly with rubbing alcohol): very light sweet scent, like something Gramma Mac would have worn. Not bad now, but just not me.

 

Into the trade pile. I have the weirdest skin...

[ziggystardust13]

In bottle: Very sharp. Hello almond! Not sure if this is going to be wearable...

 

Wet on skin: This smells just like Wedding Cake. Yummy and foody. Love it, but not into foody scents.

 

Dry: The wedding cake scent has pretty much disappeared rather quickly. Spices are coming out. They aren't strong or overbearing. Quite nice! This softens up a lot but still has that foody quality at the base of it. I could also swear this has honey in it...

 

Overall this is ok, and probably wonderful if you like Eat Me or foody scents. Off to swaps!

[Klolly]

This is one I've wanted to try for awhile and was so excited when balame threw it in as a freebie in a swap. Here goes;

In imp: Wooh, powerful almonds with a sharp spice.

 

On wet: Same as in the imp, only spicier. It's wet almond covered in a pepper, spice powder.

 

Dry: This is a weird scent to me because the almond is so sweet and the spice is so dry and sharp. I think it goes well with it's name. I could see the Queen of Sheba smelling like this. The throw is pretty strong and lacks the painful edge of the spice that you get up close. The longer I wear it the more I'm liking it. It's like a soft brown almond cookie flavored with allspice and a pinch of black pepper. I really like this! This could be a bottle someday. Yay!

 

Shortly after: I went downstairs and my daughter started commenting, "Something smells like baby powder!" Grrr. Not only that but sometimes a perfume makes me think, public restroom, and I've never known why, until now. It's definitely almond that makes me think of public bathroom hand soap. Not a good association for me. I'll stick with my Morocco which is a similar type of scent but is gorgeous and doesn't do anything weird on me or remind me of anything weird.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Klolly

[gniwle]

Almonds! WAH! Spicy almonds! Yep, love it.

 

Seriously, though: Spicy almonds is a pretty thorough review for this one. It starts sweet and almondy, and then the spice kicks in. Great sillage, too!

[Gwydion]

In bottle: Strongly honeyed almonds. The spices sneak up on one with a savory bite. Fascinating and a little odd. Wet: Even quirkier on the skin. Still honeyed almond dominent, but the spices are stronger and there is the ghost of smoke. The spices go a little oddly on my skin and the almonds burn my skin a little. About half the time it’s lovely, about half the time it’s odd. Dry: The almond nearly disappears and the honey softens, leaving an interesting mix of spices.

[ltrittipoe]

This starts out lovely - spiced, honeyed almonds. And then, as soon as it dries - SOAP.

 

Very strongly scented soap. It smells familiar, though, like a soap my grandmother used, I think? But straigh up soap. I had to wash it off.

 

[Monday]

This smells like nutty tomatoes in the vial, I couldn't believe it when I read the notes. You'd think it would be a sweet honey-almond scent but it isn't.

I definitely see how people got rice out of this. On my skin I'm getting rice with a floral. It morphs to expensive soap.

Maybe this needs some aging.

[persephonehazard]

In the imp this smells of ALMONDS. They scream at me so loudly that they are entirely deserving of allcaps. This actually smells pretty much exactly like a cherry bakewell. This loud almondy impression is delicious and holds true wet, and I'm seriously hopeful for the drydown.

 

Initially, the almonds stay and I'm thrilled. But they fade fast into a top note that at first just smells of, well, perfume - that sudden sharp floraly alcoholy scent that always seems to peek out somewhere when I put anything at all on my skin. Thankfully that doesn't hang about for long, and by the time I'm finished with my forty-minute journey into work it's settled down into lightly spiced honey, warm and delicious.

 

There's nothing sexy about this scent, which surprises me. It's decadent without being debauched, rich without being raunchy, sumptuous without being sultry. I love thick, hot, tear-your-clothes-off-with-my-teeth perfumes, but variety is the very best thing of all and it's lovely to have this variant on the theme. At the time of writing - which is rather earlier in the long-term drydown than I would usually post a review, but a few hours in all the same - it's still a gorgeous thick honey with a whisper of pretty spices. I dearly miss the almond that caused me to fall in love with this one in the imp, but it's a definite keeper all the same and warrants a second imp at the least.

[nome]

This was lovely and sweet on me, almost exactly like my own scent but better. Unfortunately, it also went straight to nothing, do not pass go, barely there at an hour and a half, nothing at two.

[jensdays]

This went on rich and warm There was something sweet and almost fruity at first. But within about 15 minutes went straight baby powder. Definitely not my scent.

[Caper]

almonds in the imp for sure!

 

they fade once on and i get a bit of some spices before it turns into foundation that i used to wear in junior high?!?! wtf?

 

about three hours later it is nice and mellow, but the scent association is too strong for the first couple of hours.

[becca_s]

I was prepared to love Queen of Sheba - but I was a little disappointed. This is very almondy - not like almond essence but more like roasted almonds, with spices and honey drizzled over them. My skin normally amps honey, but with Queen of Sheba it is more of a background note. It's a bit foody for my tastes and fades very, very quickly. Pehaps, it will have more lasting power with aging.

[relax]

Definitely toasted, sugared nuts.Very sickly on me, although there is a comforting feeling to it. Swap pile

[kawaiiferreto]

I used to love this one (3, 4 years ago?), but I tried this again and YECH. Sickly sweet almond cherry. I ended up washing this off. (To be fair -- I don't think this has actually morphed or changed in scent. I just don't like sweet & foody scents much these days.)

[Gateau]

This one is a morpher! Starts out in the imp and wet as a blast of honey almond, very much like the other honey almond blends others have mentioned. Eclipse is forefront in my mind, as is Dana O'Shee. The spices come out quickly, especially a dusty saffron, which I happen to like. Then, once fully dry, it suddenly takes a fast fade down to much less scent, and gets sweetly floral before it's completely gone. Not a keeper.

[rhubarb3point14]

This goes catastrophically wrong on me, to the point where not a single one of the supposed notes in it is recognizable. On me, I swear to you, it smells like a peanut butter and rose sandwich!

[bellumed]

The almond that I found boring in Dana O’Shee, now bordering on the sickly sweet and threatening to induce a headache. Pity, because I very much enjoy the sweet-and-spiciness of it. I almost like this enough to keep it. Almost, but not quite, I’m afraid.

Edited June 28, 2012 by bellumed

[melrose]

Rancid corn chips - had to run to wash off - soap and water didn't do it, had to use alcohol.

 

Horrific.

[84trillion]

Sniffing without reading the description left me feeling confused... but now I know that the sweet, foody smell here is almond! It reminds me of Hellcat. It also makes me think of marzipan, and how this would be a fantastic Yule scent... which doesn't really mesh with my opinion of how the Queen of Sheba ought to smell. Hm. 2/5!

[fufu_berry]

This smells really good - toasted almonds and light spices mostly on me. It's not too sweet or cloying, but has a creamy, rounded, "golden" feel. Unfortunately, I have some kind of negative association with this scent - it smells like something/somewhere/someone that I don't like, but I can't figure out what! It's a lovely scent, but I won't hang on to it due to the weird vibes it's giving me.