“Pekji is an independent Turkish perfume brand, founded by the Istanbul perfumer Ömer İpekçi. Before officially launching Pekji had a growing underground existence for years, as the perfumes made for a small circle of perfume enthusiasts quickly garnered a dedicated following through word of mouth.”
HOUSE: Pekji
FRAGRANCE: Battaniye, Ruh, Zeybek
NOSE: Ömer İpekçi
YEAR: 2015-2018
SIZE/COST: 50ml / $165
SOURCE: Pekji (Turkey) + Impossible-Color (USA)
Battaniye (Extrait de Parfum): This has a slightly rounded sharpness at first, almost like coffee spiced with cinnamon or cardamom. It blends the spectrum of dark and light so well. I’ve never smelled anything quite like it, except in a cafe per chance. There’s the most gentle floral tingle with a roots earthiness that I find most alluring. For me I get a masculine vibe (even if I loathe saying it), there’s something slick and virile that is hard to easily describe, yet it’s got a soft and warm internal side as well. Maybe it’s more like envisioning a giant ferocious cat (leopard?) sizing you up from behind a steel gate? One thing is certain, when this warms on your skin I definitely no longer get anything outdoors, this is inside, safe from the elements, even though its residue is locked in. It’s like your favorite light sweater that has captured the elements and you are now wearing Mother Nature on your sleeve. (83%)
Notes: amber, honeysuckle, java vetiver, labdanum, musk, patchouli, soil, soot, wool
Ruh (EDP): Timbre! This enters center stage with an athletic smoldering amber. It’s rustic, it’s ravishing. The gritty spices perk every corner of your senses in this immersive composition. The fleurs are ebullient in a dusky way, the opening is so charged, but thankfully it leads into an expansive and much more nuanced heart. Here the wearer will experience a wood-infused rose that is altogether graceful and of a warm musk. Here the spices have a bit more of a Middle Eastern overture, and its such a sweet song. The oud oozes and diffuses. In the end the musky breadth stretches far and wide, the hint of petals linger in what I might call a sensual hallucination. This will stay with you for hours and hours and blends so well with my skin chemistry. The dry down is incredibly bottomless, and simply sensational. (87%)
Notes: amber, cardamom, coffee, jasmine, musk, oud, patchouli, rose, saffron, sandalwood
Zeybek (Extrait de Parfum): How original and realistic this is upon instant atomization! I am briskly transported to a rural setting, a barn, horse stables – with the note of hay. It’s stunning, sunny and truly dimensional. There are florals and citrus as guest stars, but it’s that simple (or not) folksy accord that penetrates and punctuates where this fragrance is headed. The nearby fields and hills are hinted by way of a softer essence of lavender, and a lush poised gracefully in a dry green field. This fragrance plays on the outdoors as well as moving in and around the essence of a tannery or a saddle and reigns as there is that buttery leather note that is churned like butter, so soft and smooth. The opening is so permeating and polar to the final stages which has this retrogradation, coming off mature, vintage-like. It’s name comes from an Ottoman era freestyle Turkish folk dance that is quite rhythmic and lovely to watch (and do, I assume), as long as you don’t flail around with two left feet! (85%)
Notes: bergamot, hay, lavender, leather, lemon, musk, narcissus, tobacco, tonka bean, vetiver
Recommended Soundtrack:
Octopus 4 (Carpe Sonum), 2021
Daily Fragrance Reviews 
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