The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Makeda draws its name from the Queen of Sheba, the legendary ruler whose true Ethiopian name means "Greatness." Shelley Waddington built this composition as the first fragrance to honor that name, the woman behind the myth. The reference reaches into the Song of Songs, a sacred text of love poetry, where a regal story between lovers unfolds. Waddington has crafted a scent that belongs to the Odyssey Collection, and it reads as a journey to somewhere ancient and sun-warmed, somewhere the air carries both citrus groves and incense. The opening offers a burst of pamplemousse and Mediterranean fruits, bright and almost tart against the skin, a first impression that feels like stepping into light.
The structure is unusual for the genre. Makeda opens with pamplemousse and Mediterranean fruits instead of leading with resin, bright and almost tart, which makes the arrival of jasmine sambac in the middle feel like a door swinging open into a warmer room. Then the agarwood lands, and the citrus doesn't vanish. It stays threaded through the cedar and musk, giving the base a quality that's both dry and luminous. The way these materials meet on skin is worth lingering on.
The evolution
The first twenty minutes are all sparkle. Bitter orange and grapefruit hit like cold juice on a hot afternoon, sharp and clean, with just enough fruit sweetness underneath to keep it from feeling austere. Around the thirty-minute mark, jasmine sambac blooms in the center, creamy and slightly indolic, softening the citrus into something rounder. The jasmine holds for another hour or two, its indolic edge gradually mellowing into a warmer, almost honeyed facet, before the base reveals itself. Virginia cedar arrives first, dry and pencil-shavings woody, with a clean astringency that keeps the composition from sliding into sweetness. Agarwood follows, quieter than you'd expect, more whispered than announced, with a faintly leathery undertone that sits just under the cedar rather than competing with it.
Cultural impact
Makeda takes its name from the Queen of Sheba, drawing on an ancient and powerful figure whose story has echoed through poetry and scripture for centuries. The fragrance itself carries that weight gently, without leaning on any single tradition. The citrus-oud structure gives it a quality that feels both rooted and current, something that can be worn by anyone drawn to the interplay of bright fruit, white floral, and quiet wood. It's the kind of composition that rewards curiosity, the kind of bottle that invites you to keep going back to your wrist throughout the day just to see what the drydown has revealed.
