Nimue the Blood Queen

[Ina Garten Davita]

Revenge is the only sustenance I require. Unearthly dark beauty, utterly haunting:

a haze of purple poisons, precious oud, black plum, dried black cherries, smoky vegetal musk, and incense.

[zankoku_zen]

This reminds me to Gun Moll, but sans the gunpowder. It's all this lethal sexiness, but more purple as opposed to having that modern weaponry about. This has all of those dark purple fruits, smoky musk, and threat laced throughout. 

This is the scent of a woman capable of exsanguinating a man with her bare hands and not getting a drop of it on her dark purple velvet dress. And when she smiles, there's a lizard part of your mind that simultaneously says RUN AWAY and HIT THAT, and you're sure that both sides are 100% right. Good throw and wear length.

[torikitty]

Dark and plummy. The oud in this doesn't stink! The smoky brings the depth to the purple, and I think the incense rounds it out, and isn't overpowering. All together, they end up smelling like a fancy, expensive perfume on me, though. I guess the plum, cherry, and musk work together to be too sweet for me. Wear length for me lasted about 4 hours, otherwise I had to get in close to smell it.

[Poenari]

This is so gorgeous! It's all dark plum, dark sweetness, and dangerous seduction. Smells expensive, luxurious, and a little bit deadly. The cherry doesn't stand out,  nor do the oud or incense. The overall effect is delightful and I can't stop sniffing my wrists. I really love this decant and now I need a bottle.

[Aviatrix]

This reminds me a LOT of Lady Lucille Sharpe, and I noticed they do share some notes. I am sure it will appeal to many people

It is mainly incense and plum on me, and it makes me feel mysterious and kind of sinister. I am not getting much of the oudh, which is fine by me.

For such a dark scent I was surprised that the throw was not greater than is the case. It seems very light on me. I would say you could absolutely wear this anywhere - let it depend solely on your mood instead of your fear of stinking up the entire room

 

In short: If you enjoy scents like Lady Lucille or Morgause, you will most likely love this, too.

[Jenjin]

Sultry and sophisticated, Nimue goes on with a bright cherry rising up, and in the drydown, deepens into a velvety, luxurious scent. Each time I take a sniff, different things come out, the sweet red fruits, incense, and then something else I can't quite place except to say "fuzzy poison" with a basenote of cozy, cuddly musk. The oud is good stuff! warm and lickable even  This is SEXEEEEEE but still very wearable and totally okay to wear in the daytime or on the darkest night.
Like Aviatrix mentions above, it's alot like Lady Lucille, but this has a gorgeous basenote I think might be the oud and musk that uff! takes it into that epic BPAL territory. I can't quite explain it, but within all the best BPAL fragrances to me, there's this certain "deepness" or deliciousness that comes out at the drydown that's alot like chewing a buttery piece of fresh caramel. Not in a gourmand way, but in the exquisite way it fills your head and senses. Nimue has that same yumminess, which stole Merlin's heart along with mine. 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Jenjin

[supreme_c0rt]

Leads with tart dried fruits (similar to Voluminous Red Blanket) but with a smoky incense backbone. Plummy tendrils of smoke, with something riiiight on the edge of the scent that tastes like the idea of a caramel cream. I don't know how or where this is coming from, and I keep thinking it's a trick of the mind, but it's definitely there.

 

This is fruitier than I normally go for, but the smoky musk and incense are really taking this into a different place, and I'm here for it. It's beautifully balanced. Sharp and tart, yet dark and smooth at the same time. A very light hand with the oud, praise be. It's not a major player and seems there only to give the blend some body and cohesion. Sophisticated, unusual. Don't have anything else like this. 

[Kytha]

This is much fruitier and 'juicier' than the description would imply. Incense can normally be overwhelmingly smoky on me, but in this blend, it mainly adds a quality of depth to the fruit. The 'oud' here isn't really the 'poo' or 'dirt' smell you can sometimes get, but it's like a smudge of dust in the background. The throw on this one for me was very strong, but in the best way.

 

'Haunting beauty' is a good description for this -- it's not at all dark or malevolent on me, as the scent description might suggest. It just smells lovely, bewitching, and faintly wicked, and I'm definitely getting a full bottle of this.

[starbrow]

A gorgeous beauty. Nimue the Blood Queen is (soon to be was, alas!) one of the best plums readily available on the lab's site. The notes may look juicy and extra red-fruity, but in reality, the blend of them billows in waves both shadowy and sheerly beautiful. Rather than vibrant with the fresh fruits of summer, she is an old-fashioned beauty, a little smoky and dark-lipped, a dark-haired 1910s Edwardian siren in an opium den. 

 

The oud is softly creamy and delicately pretty, nothing to fear here. The tiniest drop of something like absinthe is surely adding to the turn-of-the-century vibe I'm getting from Nimue. Everybody knows I am a plum ho, and here, it is a dark and dreamy purple, enhanced by not overshadowed by black cherry holding hands with it. The longer it lingers on the skin, the more the blend turns expensive and classic in a century-old way. Almost as if there are aldehydes in those purple poisons? I adore the smoky vegetal musk, which is indeed the same as the one that appears in other blends like Snake Oil, In Night, Andradite, and Geburggschlucht. Somehow both primal and fancy.

 

When considering whether to keep Lady Lucille Sharpe, I compared her with Nimue and found that in fact, Nimue was better, yes, better! I highly recommend that anyone who has FOMO about Lucille give Nimue a true. If you like this Blood Queen, you might indeed have liked the Sharpe lady....or you might have preferred to worship at this queen's altar.

[Lucchesa]

Nimue the Blood Queen is a femme fatale.  In the imp it's very fruity, but on my skin Nimue is elegant and velvety.  Smoky incense and dark fruits, mainly plum, not too sweet.  There must be some opium among the poisons, and starbrow's description of a siren in an opium den is dead on.  I had no problems with the oudh; it's just a deepening note here.  It doesn't last as long as I would like on my middle-aged skin, but it's worth reapplying. 

[spaghettysburg]

Starts off with what smells to me like fruit-y honey, then dries to a semi-sweet, semi-dry plummy incense. I don't pick up much oudh, but it's likely hanging out in the background adding to the sweet roundness of the scent.

[MamaMoth]

there's a lot going on here that i love, a musky plummy smokiness that i actively seek out.  but overlaying it all is a sharpness that it's hard to get past for me, which takes a while to calm. purple poison indeed. 

 

after a while that sharpness does recede somewhat, and i feel like i'm definitely catching some smoky opium.  but that lethal sharpness is still in there behind it all, like a quiet threat.  this is a beautiful woman in a slinky dress with a dagger hidden behind her back. 

 

eventually, all i get from this is opium perfume, absent of any allure it might have had for me in the early stages.  i think this could be quite special on the right person, though.