Xerjoff Nio

Nio is a perfume in Xerjoff’s Shooting Stars collection.^[1,2]

Xerjoff’s story places a meteorite called Nio near Yoshiki, Japan, in the late nineteenth century, describing its fall and fragments scattered through a bamboo grove. The house links that setting to the fragrance’s green, woody character, and Japan’s citrus-growing tradition to its citrus freshness.^[1,2]

Xerjoff describes Nio as “Fresh, Woody.”^[1,2]

The top notes are bergamot, pink pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, Tunisian neroli and rose; the heart notes are green leaves and jasmine; the base notes are amber, cedarwood, guaiac wood and Haitian vetiver.^[1,2]

Nio’s opening contains more than bergamot: pink pepper, cardamom and nutmeg sit beside Tunisian neroli and rose. Green leaves and jasmine then form the heart, before amber, cedarwood, guaiac wood and Haitian vetiver at the base. Reading only the green-leaf theme would miss the spices and floral references already present in the first stage.^[1,3]

For a comparison with Uden, begin at the shared guaiac-wood reference and work towards the middle. Nio’s leaves and jasmine differ from Uden’s rose, rum and sandalwood grouping. The two Shooting Stars names can sit together on a shelf while pointing to quite different aromatic compositions.^[1,3]