Flesh

Oh Iris, I love you. Let me count the ways... I can get down with the L'attesa, the Iris Silver Mist, the Lipstick On, the Infusion d'Iris, the Hiris, the 28 La Pausa... but this, THIS, my perfume-loving friends, is the iris perfume that I'm currently obsessed with... the Pekji Flesh. 1.) IRIS! Right out the gate it's a dense, low-slung, starchy, rooty, iris backed with plenty of ambrette; cosmetic and waxy smelling. Then it's 2.) MUSK! Animalic, but well behaved. Shows plenty of musky facets throughout a days wear: an animalic musk (a very clean and quiet MKK), something like a marscapone funk (?), a bit mushroomy ( à la Musc Bruno Acampora)... 3.) and by ye gods, the most gorgeous PEACH FUZZ! Yes it's called apricot; nevertheless, I get half and half Peach-Os, and the true-to-life fuzzy skin of a pinky-golden stonefruit at the peak of ripeness. Longevity is superb. Enamored at the shop, I doused my testing arm with about 7 sprays on a Thursday afternoon (sorry not sorry). Come Saturday and a shower later, I had the olfactory tattoo of peachfuzz still on my arm. It's worth mentioning that the 'wierd' and 'challening' notes (notes of industrial glue, mushroomy, cheesy notes, modern synthetic fixatives) showed up on loudly on the test strip but mildly on my skin. In summary, a fat waxy iris, an animalic musk, and a giant peach; perfectly balanced, excellently-performing, and beeeeeautiful packaging! Thank you Mr Ipekçi! I've had the honor to try all four of the RESET collection (Blacklight, Purpl, Yes, Please, and Flesh). They are delightful, great juice, great packaging, very fun. Feels exciting, fresh (as in new), and approachable. Flesh is the only one that I've enjoyed actually wearing the entire ride, but they are all FANTASTIC.

Flesh is a very controversial perfume for me. Yes, it is the smell of skin and flesh, but it belongs to the artificial skin of an android. It is newly painted and glossed. This android wants to be human. Such relation i can imagine is that Flesh is one of the perfumes Jean Baptiste Grenouille created for himself (not in the movie, in the book) when he wanted to blend in with the crowd. He wanted to be a human, an entity, but got something wrong. Flesh is industrial. It is not natural, but manufactured. Definitely one of the hardest to get in the RESET collection, and i still can't say that i got it totally. What i can smell in Flesh is a kick of dirty, oily iris with civet and various musks, giving way to still dirty/indolic white flowers. But it is such multi layered so you really need to give Flesh some serious time. Especially the first 20-30 minutes is a quite challenging experience. The drydown on the contrary is quite tame though with a soft vanilla and hints of sandalwood Another example of what niche perfumery truly is. It's not about having huge boxes and fancy bottles and labeling everything 200+ eur by default. I guarantee that you can never find such an experience as Flesh in mainstream.

when i was little and my mom would go out at night or go away and leave my sibling and i at home with a babysitter or family member she would first take a piece of tissue and blot her lipstick on it to make a print that she would give to us to have while she was gone. pekji's flesh takes me right there every time. i'm so curious about whatever that slightly synthetic, spray painty note really is as i'm certain the ingredient is also present in pre-aughts makeup. i first smelled this at ZGO in San Francisco and someone else in the shop said it smelled like their "grandmother's eyelid." certain scents more than others make you feel the proximity of the olfactory and memory architectures of the human brain. this one is paramount for me.

I reviewed this as a love last year when I first bought it and my feelings have only gotten better. I’ve been reaching for it April/May 2024 for both dressed-up nights in clingy pink satin and heels and casual evenings in slouchy dungarees, jersey tops, and pristine white trainers. It feels so good. Strikes this perfect balance between nearly nude skinscent and neon-synthetic plastic wrap. Fruity floral from a CGI dream. Writing this now I get Gucci Rush vibes but it doesn’t smell anything like that. I just frikkin love it and am so glad I got the chance to discover it.

I know the android wanting to be human sentiment keeps getting thrown around but this reads more Stepford wife with the lack of metallic. The iris is waxy and buttery and like a gentle slap that reminds me of when it was constantly put in lipstick for the scent. Overall nice creamy and a wonderful way to put spray paint into a perfume. Flesh could go either way in my mind, worn heavily on some club kid wearing pvc and uv makeup on a dance floor, or a touch of tactful on someone going for a vintage aesthetic. Overall beautiful and I feel like most people can pull it off