Amber
Burmese oud
Cedarwood
Coriander
Florentine iris absolute
Gaiac wood
Honey
Leathery notes
Lotus
Maté absolute
Pink pepper
Saffron
Sage
Vanilla absolute
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135 Reviews
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2
I'll make the call
The 2025 coverage is still alive and kicking, continuing with Italian luxury house Royal Crown and their Esxence premier, that being Nima. And unlike most of the other fragrances where I'm among the first to cover it, here I am literally the first. So if you're wondering whether this is good or not, I'll make the call for you.
I have an official sample from the brand and as of me revising this review in early December 2025, I've now gone through 3 wears: one in February, one in August and one now in December.
As always, I like to test my knowledge by initially spraying the scents without looking at the accords or the scent pyramid, not that there are any accords here anyway since I'm the first to arrive on the scene. On both occasions, Nima opens with a very prominent unlisted yellow floral note accompanied by a strong sweet-spiciness (high-quality saffron) and moderate ambers. Within Royal Crown's own catalogue, Tzar is the fragrance that comes to mind which also has that Xerjoff's Opera style ylang-ylang. Yellow floral is clearly the leading accord in the open and the scent primarily showcases spicy-floral-sweet-resinous qualities at first. When I smell it up-close, the same accords remain the leaders, yet the base has a more evident woodiness to it. I would assume that the notes are primarily centered on ylang-ylang, saffron, nutmeg, amber and perhaps oud.
The core profile throughout the wear remains centered on a woody ylang-ylang with light tropical nuances and pronounced spiciness. In an attempt to allocate my experience to the notes, I would say the scent is built on a base of oud/gaiac and amber. The heart would include the sweetening notes (saffron, honey and vanilla) as well as the non-yellow floral tones. It is worth noting that the ylang-ylang implied in the top is not the only floral note you are getting here: I'd say the iris is also very prevalent, bringing a clean and mildly soapy quality to this scent's on-skin profile at around 30 minutes in (with the note lasting all the way through). The top notes would likely be the ylang-ylang, but also the lighter throwaway parts of the scent pyramid, e.g. the pink pepper and coriander. Having subsequently smelled Royal Crown's Novelties line, I don't think maté is a key note here due to the lack of smokiness.
Final accords: spicy-sweet-floral-resinous-woody
Overall, this is not Royal Crown's most impressive in terms of originality. I would say that this is very comparable to Casamorati's Casamorati - 1888 from a structure standpoint. The scent is well-executed (which you should expect from RC, given the price) and the complexity is quite noteworthy. On my first wear, I wrote down that the performance was quite average, yet on the second wear, I got rather strong performance with the third wear somewhere in-between. Utility wise, clearly a fall-winter oriented fragrance with a unisex-leaning-masculine nature to it, particularly due to the heavy presence of spice. At the time that this review was originally written in August 2025, I stated that it was definitely not contending for release of the year since I rank fragrances inclusive of cost and originality. However, due to the incredibly underwhelming nature of the releases this year, Nima is solidified as a top 5 fragrance on the year even with the €579/100ml retail price tag and it's not the only product in that price range to earn a top 10 (fragrances from Amouage and Creed that retail in the same ballpark are also there). Excluding all non-scent factors, Nima is a top 3 fragrance on the year alongside other premium-priced products.
I have an official sample from the brand and as of me revising this review in early December 2025, I've now gone through 3 wears: one in February, one in August and one now in December.
As always, I like to test my knowledge by initially spraying the scents without looking at the accords or the scent pyramid, not that there are any accords here anyway since I'm the first to arrive on the scene. On both occasions, Nima opens with a very prominent unlisted yellow floral note accompanied by a strong sweet-spiciness (high-quality saffron) and moderate ambers. Within Royal Crown's own catalogue, Tzar is the fragrance that comes to mind which also has that Xerjoff's Opera style ylang-ylang. Yellow floral is clearly the leading accord in the open and the scent primarily showcases spicy-floral-sweet-resinous qualities at first. When I smell it up-close, the same accords remain the leaders, yet the base has a more evident woodiness to it. I would assume that the notes are primarily centered on ylang-ylang, saffron, nutmeg, amber and perhaps oud.
The core profile throughout the wear remains centered on a woody ylang-ylang with light tropical nuances and pronounced spiciness. In an attempt to allocate my experience to the notes, I would say the scent is built on a base of oud/gaiac and amber. The heart would include the sweetening notes (saffron, honey and vanilla) as well as the non-yellow floral tones. It is worth noting that the ylang-ylang implied in the top is not the only floral note you are getting here: I'd say the iris is also very prevalent, bringing a clean and mildly soapy quality to this scent's on-skin profile at around 30 minutes in (with the note lasting all the way through). The top notes would likely be the ylang-ylang, but also the lighter throwaway parts of the scent pyramid, e.g. the pink pepper and coriander. Having subsequently smelled Royal Crown's Novelties line, I don't think maté is a key note here due to the lack of smokiness.
Final accords: spicy-sweet-floral-resinous-woody
Overall, this is not Royal Crown's most impressive in terms of originality. I would say that this is very comparable to Casamorati's Casamorati - 1888 from a structure standpoint. The scent is well-executed (which you should expect from RC, given the price) and the complexity is quite noteworthy. On my first wear, I wrote down that the performance was quite average, yet on the second wear, I got rather strong performance with the third wear somewhere in-between. Utility wise, clearly a fall-winter oriented fragrance with a unisex-leaning-masculine nature to it, particularly due to the heavy presence of spice. At the time that this review was originally written in August 2025, I stated that it was definitely not contending for release of the year since I rank fragrances inclusive of cost and originality. However, due to the incredibly underwhelming nature of the releases this year, Nima is solidified as a top 5 fragrance on the year even with the €579/100ml retail price tag and it's not the only product in that price range to earn a top 10 (fragrances from Amouage and Creed that retail in the same ballpark are also there). Excluding all non-scent factors, Nima is a top 3 fragrance on the year alongside other premium-priced products.
Updated on 12/03/2025
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