Queen (2009)
by Queen Latifah

I love vanilla. Anything vanilla. I'll even like patchouli (my most hated note) if there's vanilla in with it. And Queen does that. Prada by Prada has the same vanilla/patchouli mix, and I like that too. Queen smells similar to Prada to my nose. Kind of an oriental vanilla with musk. Almost cotton-candy like, and so in that respect, if one does not like Pink Sugar by Aquolina, one will find the sweetness of Queen similarly annoying.

I love candy-like scents, however. So Queen gets a thumbs up from me. Of note, Pink Sugar is marketed as unisex; if that's the case, then Queen should be as well. But it isn't.

2nd December, 2011.

I absolutely love this perfume. IMO not sweet or as strong as some are describing it. Its is very warm and sensuous. One of my favourite perfumes is Dior Addict, and although Queen is not in the same league as addict, the 'warmness' reminds me of it. One of those perfumes you can't really smell on yourself but every now and again you get a waft of it and feel comforted. I like tonka bean as an ingredient and this is in Queen and Addict. I didn't even test this, I bought it on the strength of descriptions on basenotes and youtube and its even better than I imagined. Not widely available, so I will be cherishing my 100ml bottle. Very beautiful, classy and mature. A very good offering for celebrity perfume

10th November, 2011.

I can't wear this perfume. It's too strong and too overly sweet for me, like Angel by Thierry Mugler which I also dislike. It also smells too much like rum. I like the smell of rum, but I don't like being covered with it all day.

24th October, 2011.

Queen Latifah is certainly not helping the nation's diabetes epidemic with the launch of QUEEN. After a briefly enticing opening featuring a variety of alleged notes, including tequila, none of which seems clearly identifiable to me--I mean, aside from vanilla and patchouli, of course--QUEEN draws the wearer into a vortex similar to the one which I imagine is produced by an industrial-sized mixer in which vanilla cream frosting is churning at the Duncan Hines factory. The promising opening is thus abruptly terminated as none of the potentially interesting notes unfurl or develop in any way, suffocated as they are in the thick vanilla-sugar-Crisco paste. The sole survivor from the opening, perhaps predictably, is patchouli.

It's probably not a coincidence that I recalled two movie scenes while wearing this perfume yesterday. First was the scene from Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) where the Kim Novak character plummets to her death after climbing to the top of the stairs in the bell tower. Second was the scene from Luis Buñuel's Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (1933), where the goat hurtles down the craggy mountainside, also to its death.

The veritable wall of voluminous frosting lasts for quite some time, making QUEEN a dubious choice for public settings. On the other hand, it's also a dubious choice at home, devoid as it is of either complexity or depth. This fragrance might work as is for full-fledged vanilla fanatics, but it seems rather flat and blunt to me. Since the occasions on which I wish to smell literally like Duncan Hines vanilla cream frosting are few and far between, I might try to mix this perfume with a dry incense or perhaps a rose soliflore composition to cut the sweetness somewhat. When all is said and sniffed, I regard QUEEN more as a super-sweet oriental vanilla base than as a complete perfume.

24th September, 2011.

Good, but not great--a bit too strong. Sweet and rich, vanilla and incense, musk, amber...a bit foody, and nicely complex (notes are blended nice so no one note jumps out to overpower you)...just overall a little too strong for me.

18th September, 2011.

I'm Picturing sweet Stickybuns in the oven toppled with warm Vanilla. Sprinkled with Spices and distant scent of rum and Incense. just love it
I love the cute Heart Shaped design
Etched into the Bottle very Classy
My favorite Perfumes.

12nd December, 2010.