Nicki Minaj Perfume Reviews, My 4 Favorite Fragrances


Whether you’re a diehard fan of the pop star Nicki Minaj, or a casual onlooker, you might wonder how Nicki Minaj perfumes smell, and if they’re any good.

Surprisingly for such a low price point, Nicki Minaj perfumes offer balanced and delightful fragrance experiences. Most of her fragrances lean more towards feminine scent notes and all of them offer some degree of sweetness. Fresh and subtle, her sixth installment, Onika, might be the best-smelling one of all.

In this post, we’ll dive into Nicki Minaj perfume reviews, looking at four of her best fragrances.

Nicki Minaj Perfume Reviews

Reviews of the 4 Best Nicki Minaj Perfumes

In order of release date, I’m going to help you get familiar with Nicki Minaj perfumes. While each has its own nuanced notes, all of them incorporate fruit, flowers, and gourmands.

With the exception of Queen, Nicki’s limited edition fragrance, all of her fragrances can usually be found for under $40 USD.

The price of Queen varies, and bottles are scarce and often acquired by collectors. But it wouldn’t be odd to be charged a couple hundred dollars for a bottle of Queen.

1. Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Eau de Parfum Spray

Sale
Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Eau de Parfum Spray for Women, 3.4 Ounce
  • American rapper of eccentric style Nicki Minaj launches her first fragrance called Pink Friday
  • The fragrance is out from September 2012
  • This product is firm hold and natural finish
  • Sassy, fearless feminine
  • Sparkling with mouth watering fruits

Named for her 2010 studio album, Pink Friday was Nicki Minaj’s first fragrance, released September 2012. Recommended for casual wear, the overall sentiment of this perfume is a sweet floral musk.

Available in two bottle sizes, 100 mL (3.4 fl oz) and 50 ml (1.7 fl oz), this container is a mold of the upper torso and gilded face of the artist with light pink hair.

Fruity, sweet, and sultry at the start, star fruit lends citrusy, green, and sour fruit notes. Italian mandarin smells like sweet honey while blackberry adds more tanginess.

Top Notes

  • Starfruit, mandarin, boysenberry

Middle Notes

  • Lotus, jasmine petals

Base Notes

  • Caramelized pear, vanilla, musk, wood

Refreshing lotus and sweet jasmine make up the heart of this fragrance. Star jasmine is a white floral note that’s sweet and fresh. Lotus, being an aquatic plant, lends those fresh water notes to this layer along with soft floral airiness.

As it dries down, you’ll smell like a well-grounded dessert. Creamy vanilla and caramelized pear make your skin sing a slow jam. While woody and powdery musk notes extend the longevity of this fragrance.

More of a day fragrance to be worn during summer and spring, you can expect Pink Friday to last at least four hours on your skin. Your scent trail won’t be long, but it’ll be noticeable.

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2. Nicki Minaj Minajesty Eau de Parfum Spray

Nicki Minaj Minajesty Eau de Parfum Spray for Women 3.4 Ounce
  • Minajesty by Nicki Minaj is a Floral Fruity fragrance for women
  • This is a new fragrance
  • Minajesty was launched in 2013
  • Sultry and glamorous Nicki raises the bar as she redefines reality with a wink of playfulness
  • Majestic, glamorous, confident

Nicki’s fourth fragrance release, Minajesty, is still a sweet, fruity, floral fragrance, but with more edge. Launched in 2013, the same bottle sizes are available, 100 mL (3.4 fl oz) and 50 ml (1.7 fl oz).

Instead of cotton candy pink hair, this bottle mold is of the gilded Minaj’s face with dark pink waxy hair and a deep red and black bodiced upper torso.

Described as glamorous and majestic, this is a captivating scent sure to elicit compliments.

With a fresh and fruity introduction, you’re introduced to a tangy, cheerful, and sweet scent.

Top Notes

  • Lemon, peach, red berries

Middle Notes

  • Magnolia, orchid, frangipani

Base Notes

  • White musk, cedarwood, tonka bean

Minajesty transitions into a floral utopia. Frangipani definitely lends tropical floral notes, but it’s also citrusy and smells like indistinctive fruits. Orchids release a sweet, musklike scent. And magnolias close this layer with a velvety floral scent with hints of green notes.

It’s dry down is powdery, woody, with a bit of vanilla spice due to the tonka bean notes.

More of a spring and summer day fragrance, the woody and spicy notes allow you to pull this scent off in autumn or early winter as well.

Minajesty can last on your skin at least five or six hours, and you’ll leave a nice fragrance trail behind you.

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3. Nicki Minaj Onika Eau de Parfum Spray

Sale
Nicki Minaj Onika Eau de Parfum Spray, 3.4 Ounce
  • This item is made in USA.
  • This item is by designer Nicki Minaj.
  • Due to manufacturer packaging changes, product packaging may vary from image shown.

For her sixth scent installment, Minaj released Onika in 2014. This is one of her more personal releases as it’s not named for an album or any of her stage alter egos. Onika is the artist’s first name by birth.

She compares this scent to “angels in the garden of … perfection.”

The color palette for her 100 mL (3.4 fl oz) bottle is black, white, and gold. Her gold face is carried over from the last two installments. This time her hair is black – styled as a long, angled bob in a straight texture. Her upper torso dons a black studded and strapped bodice.

Softer and sweeter than Minajesty, Onika is still fruity, but incorporates fresh, exotic floral notes at the heart and dries down as sweet, powdery wood.

Similar to Pink Friday, starfruit and mandarin are two of the top notes that introduce you to this fragrance. With the addition of pear, this opening is more distinctive and melon-like.

Top Notes

  • Starfruit, pear, mandarin

Middle Notes

  • Orchid, water lily

Base Notes

  • White musk, cedarwood, sugar cane

These heart notes are a combination of Pink Friday and Minajesty. You have spiciness, aquatic, and soft floral notes. Musk and wood notes are carried over from the base layers of her previous two fragrances, with the addition of sugar cane.

Similar to the others, this scent will last for longer than expected on your skin. Lasting for at least five hours, Onika projects best during spring, summer and fall, but might also be noticeable on warm winter days. Early evening wear is also possible.

Your scent trail won’t be extremely long, but it’s got a moderate length that can still help to make your presence known.

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4. Nicki Minaj Queen Limited Edition Eau de Parfum Spray

Nicki Minaj Queen Eau De Parfum- Limited Edition, 3.4 Fl Oz
  • Indulgent. Confident. Ultra sexy
  • The fragrance is absolutely intoxicating and opens with sexy top notes of Asian pear and bergamot
  • The smooth sensual creamy base is wrapped with notes of sleek woods, praline and musk - a scent truly fit for a Queen.
  • Dipped in gold. Wrapped in velvet. The perfect gift.

Named for her fourth solo album, Queen, Minaj’s ninth and last fragrance release, has a more intense scent than Minajesty, but it’s still sweet and smooth.

Bottling is pretty much the same. In keeping with the gold face, Queen’s hue is more bronze than the others. With this limited-edition bottle, Nicki’s hair is styled the same as Onika with the exception of an added headpiece. Interestingly, the headpiece can be removed and worn as a bracelet.

Her upper torso is simply spray painted in bronze to black ombre. An oversized gold chain hangs in the center of her chest.

Queen opens up to a sweet and tangy fruit combination. It then transitions into a floral garden, and then dries down to sweet praline, powdery musk, and subtle wood notes.

Top Notes

  • Asian pear, bergamot

Middle Notes

  • Floral notes

Base Notes

  • Musk, woods, praline

You can expect this fragrance to last on the skin for at least six hours. And your trail will be very noticeable.

This fragrance was never sold in stores. In 2019, it was only sold on her website and the original price was $75 USD. They’ve since sold out from her site, so there aren’t many bottles left in circulation. You can find them here and there online, though, so if you’re interested in buying it, you have to be willing to order it right away, or you’ll miss out.

Beyond the collector’s price, if you were to snag a bottle of Queen, the value is in the fact that this scent can be worn year-round, day or night. So, you’d get a lot of use out of it. And who can argue with receiving a piece of jewelry along with the fragrance?

Queen was Nicki’s most mature fragrance release. Queen’s more sophisticated notes suggest that a change might be on the horizon if she continues to launch fragrances going forward.

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All About the Nicki Minaj Brand

Known for her speedy delivery, smooth and ever-evolving flow, the Trinidadian-born rapper whose stage name we all know as Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj.

She attended one of the best high schools for performing arts in New York City, LaGuardia. There she trained as an actress and performer before developing her rap music career, even working in an Off-Broadway show immediately after graduating from high school.

Minaj worked a series of unrelated jobs before signing onto a Brooklyn music label and releasing mixtapes. Eventually she signed with Young Money Entertainment, guest appearing on musical albums of more famous artists before releasing her first major album, Pink Friday in 2010.

That was just the beginning. In addition to having released four solo albums over the course of nine years, she’s also continuously been featured on the tracks of countless other artists to this present day. She’s also continued to act and pursue entrepreneurial efforts.

The Nicki Minaj Fragrance Story

Nicki often releases fragrances in conjunction with or simply in reference to her musical albums. Her first fragrance release came two years after her first album release, Pink Friday. But in 2012, her Pink Friday fragrance was released five months after her second studio album entitled, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.

Her first scent release was acknowledged by Fifi Awards as being the Fragrance of the Year, having Best Packaging, and for her launching the Best Media Campaign of the Year.

Months later in April 2013, follow up fragrance, Pink Friday: Special Edition was launched. A floral, fruity gourmand, pink grapefruit is the most noticeable top note. Its heart notes are a light and airy white floral blend. Powdery caramel pears make for a sweet dry down.

During the last month of 2013, she released Pink Friday: Deluxe Edition. One of her few scents that can be worn all year round, she sticks with a lot of floral, fruity, and sweet notes with the Deluxe Edition.

Minajesty was the artist’s fourth fragrance launch. Its related scent, Minajesty: Exotic Edition was solely sold and distributed by the Home Shopping Network. The latter is one of her aromatic scents, with a heart layer infused with lavender and tiger lily.

In December 2014, Nicki Minaj released her third studio album, The Pinkprint, followed by a fragrance of the same name months later. Very fruity – some tropical notes include passionfruit, frangipani, and coconut.

Minaj paid tribute to her ethnic roots when her eighth perfume, Trini Girl was released in 2016. This one is harder to find than all the others, but it’s another fruity floral fragrance. She again incorporated tropical notes like quince, lychee, and coconut.

In her ninth and most recent perfume release, Minaj titled the scent, Queen, which was also the title of her fourth and most recent studio album – both launched in 2018.

Additional Nicki Minaj Business Ventures

On record as the most followed rapper on Instagram, with 212 million followers, this pop star has not limited her presence to the stage.

In addition to rapping, acting, launching fragrances, and touring, Minaj has collaborated with companies outside the entertainment industry.

Minaj has endorsed countless other projects spanning from beauty, to fashion, to comic books. She’s worked with MAC Cosmetics, even releasing her own lipstick range. She’s done voiceover work and was a character in 2019’s The Angry Birds Movie 2 – her fourth major movie to date. Minaj has worked with Pepsi, Adidas, Kmart, Nokia, H&M, Fendi, and a multitude of fashion and shoe brands.

There’s even been a Barbie doll in her likeness auctioned off for charity. Most recently, she was the face of Marc Jacobs’ Spring 2022 collection, Heaven.

Customer Opinions about Nicki Minaj Perfumes

It’s difficult to find a Harajuku Barbz who isn’t a diehard fan of Nicki Minaj’s perfumes. They have an overwhelmingly positive response to her fragrances. But not all of them are biased. I was able to find some constructive criticism regarding her scents as well.

What Customers Love about Nicki Minaj Perfumes

  • Fans of this artist love her fragrances as much as her music. They enjoy the sweet undertones that can be found in all of her releases.
  • But whether you like Nicki as an artist or not, you might want to give her perfumes a try. She’s got plenty of perfume-lovers who are uninterested in listening to her music or following her celebrity status.
  • Nicki’s scents are captivating, and a lot of women reported feeling sexier, more confident, or joyful when wearing her perfumes.
  • Many customers were just as surprised as I was that Nicki Minaj perfumes are well formulated and unfold really nicely – especially given the low cost.
  • Some customers are surprised about the “well behaved” nature of Nicki Minaj perfumes considering how she hasn’t created that type of persona for herself as an artist.
  • Nicki Minaj perfumes last for a considerable time on the skin. Sure, they’re eau de parfum-strength fragrances so you’d generally expect that, but typical designer or popstar perfumes smell artificial and last a very short amount of time.
  • You don’t have to constantly reapply Nicki’s fragrances to your skin. They can last you a full workday before you might feel the need to freshen up the scent.
  • There are some customers who love Nicki’s perfume bottles so much that they’ll purchase multiple sizes of the same scent just so that they can own as many versions of her little character bottles as possible.

What Customers Dislike about Nicki Minaj Perfumes

  • Queen seems to be the least liked fragrance released by Minaj. For some wearers, the scent was too masculine. Some customers who like the scent suggest that it’s more of a unisex fragrance.
  • Some Minaj fragrances remind wearers of other scents, like Cloud by Ariana Grande, or Fancy by Jessica Simpson, just to name a couple. This can sometimes be a disappointment.
  • Nicki’s perfume bottles have been described as “tacky,” “bulky,” “horrid,” “hideous” and “cringe.” It seems that customers either love it or hate it.

Customers wish that Nicki would do fewer special releases like, Minajesty: Exotic Edition and Queen. They love the fragrances but wish that they could still have access to them in the years after they’ve been released. It’s a bummer to get hooked on a scent and then have to switch to something else because it’s no longer available.

Final Thoughts

As far as celebrity fragrances go, Nicki Minaj perfumes are actually nice-smelling, last a long time for the price, and have moderate to strong sillage.

All of her releases have a sweet undercurrent, so if you dislike sweet scents, you probably won’t want to buy any of her fragrances. (Unless you’re a collector.)

Speaking of being a collector, if you enjoy acquiring Nicki’s perfume bottles, then I’d suggest ordering Queen if you don’t already have it. Gaudy or not, her unique bottles are truly one of a kind.

Otherwise, Minajesty is a middle of the road scent that isn’t too much of anything – not too sweet or too woody. I think it’s a great place to start.

But as always, you have to choose the scent that’s best for you. Think about what typically works best on your skin, and then go from there.

Grace

Hello and welcome to Fragrance Advice! My name is Grace Young, and I’ve been drawn to fragrances since I was a little girl. There's just something about scent that brings me so much joy! 

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