Queen of Sheba

[aedes]

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

Woohoo! It smells like Bastet only without the powder (read: amber). Sweet almonds and generally warm wuzziness. Sweet and food smells generally aren't my thing, but I'm hanging on to this one. And, despite having a Middle Eastern theme, it actually stays on my wrist instead of disappearing after 30 minutes like others have.

[Little Bird]

This is very dry, slightly earthy, and slightly sweet. It makes me think of almond shells stamped into dusty soil. On my skin, there's a slight whisper of spice that's very subtle and not really foodie or cinnamon-spicy at all. The overall scent reminds me of Morocco a bit, but better and more complex.

 

Almond notes usually smell like cherry on me, and I don't get that here. This smells dry and like real almonds, toasted and with shells & all.

 

Nutty, earthy, warmth with a bit of sexy, sharp spice and a powdery edge. It's sweet enough to be appealing to me, but not sweet enough to really be considered foodie. It's like a nutty, darker, more complex Morocco on my skin.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Little Bird

[kakiphony]

In the imp: almonds, Almonds, ALMONDS. (Or maybe just almond extract.) In any case, the almond is VERY predominant in this in the imp.

 

Wet: The almond is still the predominant note when I first apply this to my wrists. However, I am catching a little spice trying to claw its way past the super-sweet extract smell. If I had to guess at this point, I'd say I'm smelling saffron, and something peppery.

 

Dry down: This one settled down pretty quickly, and the almonds mostly ran away within the first ten minutes. After the first hour or so, I was definitely smelling saffron along with a slightly syrupy sweetness that seems to be equal parts honey and almond extract. After about two hours, my right wrist had faded until it smelled like slightly spicy powder, while the right wrist still had the syrupy honeyed almond scent. The left wrist also had a slightly peppery undertone

 

Final verdict: The boyfriend remarked, "You smell good" when I got home from work, and then, when I lifted my wrist to his nose he pretended to fall over and said, "That makes me weak in the knees." Uh-huh. It's a keeper.

[Victory]

I could cry. Of all of the scents in the world, I love almond best. So I was so very sure that this would be magic on me. Not so, coy knight.

 

I keep trying this on in the hopes that something magical will happen and Queen of Sheba would work on me. The first time I tried it, I had four hours of the most poisonous-smelling green scent imaginable. The second time I tried, I got nothing. At all. The oil was shining on my wrist and no smell. Ever. The third time I tried, i got something hideous, but I don't know how to describe it.

 

My imp hasn't smelled great on anyone I've tried it on, so maybe it's just wonky. But since I haven't gotten almond from any of the lab's oils, I think it's safe to say my skin just loves it as much as I do and swallows the oil the second it hits it.

[Wench457]

Queen of Sheba: almonds and spice.

 

On: Yum, the honey warms up. This smells delicious. But at the same time, not too foody, and very wearable. There's almost a cola smell to the throw.

 

Dry: The spices amp way up out of control, which is not at all unusual on me. The honey and the almonds didn't stand a chance. Pity.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Wench457

[Sheila]

I'm not a huge almond fan, but out of the almond scents I've tried (Seraglio, Dana O'Shee, Bastet), this is definitely my favorite.

 

On wet, it smelled like bitter almonds on me. As it dries, it gets sweeter and spicier. I can faintly smell the honey, but mostly the spices. It's a lovely scent, but it faded very fast on me. Off to swaps.

[terrierhead]

In the imp, this is warm almonds and something I can't identify. Dark honey?

 

On, it turns to Dr. Pepper. I'm serious. It put me in an odd, nostalgic frame of mind, which turned out to be appropriate since I tried it on New Year's Eve. I'll try this again, but if it stays this way I doubt I'll try to acquire more of it.

[LadyKalessia]

This is another one that wingedcorset gave me, back before I started getting into BPAL, because she didn't like the almonds. I like almonds. I blame my mother, who has some funny story about biochem and sniffing some keytone mix or something to back her up.

 

Anyway:

 

In the bottle, it's got a very biting, green note to it that I really dislike - not as bad as Maenad in the bottle - underlaid with some very sweet notes that get lost in it.

 

On my skin the green tones down a LOT, and a soft baby powder sort of scent comes up. The almonds and honey come out to play, with maybe a bit of musk as well. After about an hour, the green scent is completely gone, and it's all almonds and something sweet that might be vanilla. At the end of the day it died down a *lot*, so I had to get my nose riiiight up to my wrist to smell it. At this point the almonds are almost gone it seems, and there's mostly that warm amber/vanilla thing that might actually be "honey".

 

This is a very warm, sweet scent, though it seems to fade away pretty fast. I like it, though it doesn't really drop my jaw. It's a nice sweet scent, but not overly so. It's strong somehow, and assertive, but remains feminine. I think if it weren't for the die-down, this one might become a little cloying.

[angharad]

Yet another scent in which the almonds overpower everything else. In the imp, I can smell the honey from the "honeyed almonds," but no spices, and as soon as Queen of Sheba hits my skin, all the honey goes away. After 3 hours, still the only thing I could smell was almond. Luckily this wasn't a bitter almond, but I was wanting something else. I'm not sure how long this would have lasted because I washed it off after 4 hours.

 

Overall, Queen of Sheba isn't a bad scent, and I'll probably let it age a bit before trying again...but I'm afraid that my skin just amps up almonds too much for this to work on me.

[try_infrared]

In the bottle/imp: I smell something very sharp and green (bitter almonds?), and a lot of pepper. There is also a cherry-almond sweetness, but it's not overpowering.

 

Wet, on my skin: The cherry-almond note quickly disappears and leaves lots of pepper and other spices. I agree that this is a very dry, hot scent, like the smell of desert winds blowing through a bazaar. There is honey throughout, but the honey note on me begins to develop 'cleaning product' tendencies.

 

Drydown on my skin: Still lots of pepper and other spices, with a definite emergence of the cleaning product honey note.

 

I did like this scent but I'm not sure that I would purchase a bottle - I'll have to try it again in a few weeks. I think I may have a problem with the BPAL honey note - it goes lemony pledge on me in every honey blend I've tried - and it's the one thing ruining Queen of Sheba for me

[faifai]

This starts out as marzipan + something very harsh and candle-y smelling. Then it fades to...ivory soap? What?! My skin must be insane, but this honeyed almonds spices scent turns into soap on me. Soap + marzipan. All I wanted was the marzipan...looks like my search for a marzipan-esque scent continues.

[LiberAmoris]

Mmmm, I also get marzipan from the Queen of Sheba, with a nutty undertone I recognize from Gluttony but much prefer here. Then it slides into the spices I love in Morocco plus something vaguely warm and golden---maybe the honey note which is otherwise very subtle in this blend, at least on my skin.

 

I'm not so much a fan of the overtly almond-y blends, but this is very nice. It dries down to a skin scent that is really sensual and pretty. I'll definitely be keeping my imp.

[Spring Snow]

I love almonds, so I had very high hopes for Queen of Sheba!

It smells great at first, sweet mellow almonds and honeyed spices, but on the drydown, it smells increasingly like stale tobacco... like I had a foul smelling cigarette five hours ago.

Very sad!

[Ayln]

This smells like the love-child of Snake Oil and Dana O'shee. I pick up almonds and "spice", but since I didn't like Snake Oil and Dana O'shee's on the fence for me, I didn't like this scent much, either.

[pale]

I have really enjoyed the spicey BPAL scents, so I was very excited about getting an imp of Queen of Sheba.

 

In the bottle: honey, garam masala, black pepper, with a very faint whiff of bitter almond.

 

On my skin at first it smelled like a garam masala that included fennel. Eventually it faded to something kinda like stale fennel incense. Eek! Definitely not for me.

[populuxa]

Wet, all I could smell was almonds. Cyanide? In any event it almost knocked me out it was so strong. As it dried the almond mellowed out a bit, and the honey pulled forward, as well as a grainy spiciness, like some exotic pastry. Way way too strong and sweet for me.

[Rock Goddess]

I definately got the almonds and the honey, but only a bit of spice. Which is strange, because my skin usually loves spices and amps them up. But my chemistry has been off all day, so I'll have to give this one another try sometime soon. I really like it on first impression though...it's sweet, but not sickeningly so. A nice, light scent. I'll hang on to the imp for awhile.

[Chrysantza]

In the bottle: Almond liek whoa. I don't smell anything but almond.

 

On me: Pure almond extract, then d'oh - as in Play-Doh. This is the first scent that I've gotten the dread eau de doh from. Absolutely nothing but almonds and Play-Doh.

 

Alas, this doesn't work on me.

[kaelei]

It smelled like cherry cough syrup when wet. But do not let that discourage you! After drydown on my skin, it immediately morphs into... spicy almond with more kick assness-y of pepper!

 

IMHO, this scent just screams for 'GIRL POWER', which totally seem to suit the scent and its description because Queen of Sheba is a great inspirational figure for ladies like you and me!

 

I will probably wear it more often to my engineering classes 'coz I am the only girl there and more powah for meh!

[sarahj]

Queen of Sheba

 

in vial: spicy honey with a hint of something green

 

wet: the same, along with something that I can't quite place (maybe cardomom?)

 

dry: dries down to just honey

 

verdict: nice, but nothing special...I don't need a big bottle

[sookster]

straight sniff from the imp is the most concentrated almond cherry scent;

positively mouthwatering

 

upon application the intensity increases for a minute or so and then

rounds out nicely....turns softer and i get a somewhat oatmeal note

 

the oddest thing about this blend is while it is fiercely strong to start

it disappears almost without a trace within 30 minutes....crazy chemistry

[Hawke]

In the vial: Edible, to sum up in a word. Honey and almond and spices and it's gorgeous and love at first sniff.

 

Wet: And on the skin, it warms up and it wafts so prettily and it loves me. We've got a mutual admiration thing going on. We're so happy we're talking about houses and what we'll name our kids.

 

Dry: And then, after much negotiation, she gives me the musty, dusty shoulder. Apparently I didn't kiss her slippers enough, didn't rub her shoulders in just the right spot. It's sad, but we part on good terms. We're just not meant to be.

[Diana]

Wet: very sweet almonds. a hint of "spice," whatever they may be.

 

Initial dry: the honey starts to peek out. It's very strong, almost noxious at first, but it mellows as it dries more. The almonds provide a nice extra layer of sweetness to it.

 

Drydown: Powdery sweet honey & almonds. The spice notes are very low-key and add just a touch of depth to it. It is very yummy. It does seem similar to Bastet, which I prefer, but this is a nice, close skin sweetness.

[Ryvre]

To my nose, Queen of Sheba smells like almond extract with some sort of spice in the background. I can't pick out what that spice is- the almond overpowers it too much. My boyfriend and I both recoiled from sniffing the imp, and I couldn't even bear to put it on. I was hoping for something softer- more like spicy marzipan.

[PixieSkull]

In the imp: Sweet and GREEN dirt. I mean it's like living soil. That part is beautiful but the burnt hair smell underneath makes me want to abandon this imp immediately, but I won't. I'm WAY too curious.

Wet: Still that burnt hair scent but it's sweeter now. Still that dirt, I think it may be part myrrh. Don't know why, but maybe.

Dry: This smells EXACTLY like the second perm chemical bottle. It smells like the flowers and roses and sweet. There's also a sweet vanilla scent that is creamy as hell. I like it, after about an hour. Don't really get any of the spices.

 

Category: Vanilla/Creamy

Rating: 2.5/5; I'm neutral on it

Overall: While the beginning has a smell of burnt hair, the end smell is very creamy and lovely. The lasting power is quite alright though, lasts through a nice handwashing. I'm going to have to try this again before I make a final judgement, though.