Pekji: Blacklight – Licorice Therapy

Do you enjoy slow perfumery? SP is for those who are able to distinguish the absolute pleasure of art from the frivolous and fleeting pleasures of mass and blitz consumption. Yet futility is encouraged today. Producing always more to finally feel less.

But producing less does not necessarily mean a product is worth buying. Marketing loves rare, select, and discontinued products. Taking money out of our pockets while tickling our egos has become the hallmark of many unscrupulous companies. But we adapt and question ourselves.

As you read this, you may be wondering if I am still talking about a fragrance. I am not too sure about it either, but these are premises that have been on my mind for a while. And I could not have found a better perfume than a Pekji to use as an example of how things should be.

Indeed, there is nothing like enjoying a perfume, taking time to appreciate its evolution, trying to understand its author, or trying to understand ourselves through the notes. What they evoke in us, the reasons for our intoxication. Why are we suddenly so receptive to them? These questions are part of a plethora of others I ask myself every time a perfume strikes me. And if there is one word I would use without hesitation to describe Ömer Ipekçi’s work, it would be just that: striking.

My first encounter with Blacklight was a year ago, on the Asian side of Istanbul, on September 22, 2020, to be exact. Ömer and his wife Büşra were there too. I never thought I would like a fragrance with a distinct licorice note, and although I am of Turkish descent, I have never tried raki, our national drink known for its aniseed note. But my disinterest in the drink and aversion to licorice were suddenly cured by Blacklight. When I wear it, the rush I feel is ethereal, like floating in cosmic emptiness, drunk, lost, without a single care in the world.

Blacklight is sure to please anyone who’s into the infamous dark candy, but it will also serve as therapy for anyone else suffering from PTSD because of the strange taste it left in their mouth. Try it.

Tolga S.