Selim Özen
Selim Özen has been building his olfactory world since 1999, when he founded Selim Özen Ltd as a vehicle for his growing creative ambitions. The Istanbul-based perfumer runs his operation between Turkey and cities spanning New York to Milan, bringing a genuinely global perspective to his work. His partnership with Muhammet Serhat Okyay gave rise to Unique'e Luxury, a Turkish niche house that has carved out a reputation for bold, high-impact fragrances built to last. Özen approaches scent creation with the precision of someone who has spent decades studying how materials interact on skin. He does not chase trends. He builds perfumes from the inside out, starting with an emotional core and layering accords until the composition breathes. Ocean The Rive, one of his signature releases, captures the feeling of open water without resorting to the usual aquatic shortcuts. Aphrodisiac Touch reveals another dimension: warm, intimate, and unapologetically sensual. His fragrances carry the weight of experience earned across continents and countless iterations.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Selim composes
Selim Özen favors compositions with dramatic contrast and layered complexity. His signature leans toward warm, cozy textures, particularly leather and amber, balanced against fresher elements like marine accords and citrus. He builds scents that feel simultaneously intimate and expansive, grounded in woody bases yet lifted by brighter top notes. His approach to longevity is deliberate. Every formulation is engineered to perform on skin throughout the day, not just in the first hour. This technical rigor coexists with genuine sensory warmth, creating fragrances that feel personal rather than performative. The style that emerges is muscular yet nuanced, modern yet rooted in classical perfumery principles.
Philosophy
What drives Selim
For Selim Özen, a fragrance only succeeds when it becomes inseparable from the person wearing it. He designs scents meant to tell a story on skin, evolving through the hours rather than announcing themselves and fading. His philosophy centers on emotional resonance over commercial appeal. He chooses materials that create memory, that prompt someone to stop and ask what they're wearing. Özen believes luxury in perfume is not about price tags or rare ingredients in isolation, but about the precision of execution and the longevity that allows a scent to become part of someone's identity. His work with Unique'e Luxury reflects this conviction: fragrances that perform, that linger, that leave impressions long after the first spray.
The houses