Queen Latifah to Launch New Fragrance

"I love fragrance and the idea of having one of my own, that was tailor-made for me and my own sensibilities, I thought it was a fantastic idea — ego aside," joked the songstress in a phone interview from Los Angeles, where she was trying to pick photos for the cover of her new album, "Persona." While Latifah is no stranger to the beauty world — she's served as a Cover Girl for Procter & Gamble Beauty since 2001 — creating a fragrance proved a new challenge for Hip-Hop's First Lady, as she is commonly called. "Initially a lot of the ingredients smelled nice, but they weren't how I wanted to be represented for my first fragrance — they were a little too mature or a little too sweet," said Latifah, who smelled about 50 different scents before coming up with the final formulation, which she described as "warm and sexy."

Developed in partnership with Steven DeMercado of Fragrance Resources, Queen opens with Italian bergamot, Mediterranean mandarin and golden tequila. The heart is of Baie rose, jasmine noir, cognac and Moroccan coriander. Base notes are of Indonesian patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla and Tonka Absolutes as well as Egyptian incense and musk.

The Queen by Queen Latifah collection will include eau de parfum spray in two sizes, 3.4 oz. for $59 and 1.7 oz. for $49. A body lotion will be available for $35 as well as a body butter for $40. The ruby-red bottle, "the color of sexiness and love," according to Latifah, boasts a square shape "to represent the strength of a woman," while a raised heart on the bottle's facade is meant to represent beauty from within.

Of her first fragrance, Latifah noted: "Queen doesn't smell like anything else. That's what you’re setting out to do — to create something unique. People tend to want to borrow from what’s popular, and me, I try to be a pioneer, a trendsetter."