Fragrance discovery: meet luxe Australian fragrance house, who is elijah

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of who is elijah, the independent Australian fragrance house behind the cult-favourite Discovery Set (which sells one every 50 minutes).

First conceptualised in 2017 and then launched in 2018, the brand was born from a desire to create beautiful, long-lasting fragrances for, quite literally, every body. The person behind the name is Australian entrepreneur, wife and mother, Raquel Bouris, who had somewhat of a lightbulb moment on a Californian road trip. Motivated by her own desire to find an inclusive fragrance that was both ethically made and would rival big designer names, Raquel set out on a disruptive mission to create a fragrance collection that broke all the rules.
The end result is a forever accessible, luxury fragrance brand, offering six elegant, totally unique scents that are super easy to love. Launching with HIS/HER just 18 months after the aforementioned lightbulb moment at Coachella no less, Raquel continued to work full-time as the brand grew, overseeing a garage renovation, then a storage unit renovation as the company required ever-larger spaces. With a five-strong team now working in the warehouse full-time and in partnership with her husband and co-brand manager, Raquel left her career as an executive assistant in July 2022 to pursue who is elijah full-time.
Along with the brand’s iconic initial release HIS|HER, you can explore the world of rich, earthy and exotic NOMAD, smoky, warm and decadent HAZE, HER, a delicate, citrussy floral; and MUSE, which is earthy, musky and sensual. The newest arrival, NIGHTCAP is a woody leather scent designed to “transport you to a thrilling moment in time”.
After being sent the Discovery Set I fell quickly for NOMAD, with HAZE coming in fast behind. I love that the set allows you to play with each scent until you find your favourite (or favourites) and it also makes for great gifting.

Each perfume remains Australian-made and hand-filled in luxe glass bottles, and this attention to detail, along with a refusal to utilise plastic packaging, to test on animals and to raise the price point, is one of many non-negotiables that sets the female-owned brand apart from many other fragrance houses. They also consciously decided to remove the step of a magnetic lid on their fragrances to ensure they are naturally lighter on the environment, and all who is elijah fragrances use ingredients that are organically derived or wildly crafted wherever possible. They also aim to push boundaries through the use of safe synthetics, by creating molecular combinations which are unique and firstly organically derived from nature, paired with a scientific approach.
“We are always putting the earth in the forefront of our mind in everything we do,” Raquel says. “We test on human bodies, never animals. We have made the choice to employ people to fill every perfume bottle, rather than machines.
“I always believed we could rival the big name brands, but remain affordable and accessible to all. When you really understand it, it’s the brand name that is doubling, tripling the cost.
“We’re using the same ingredients of said big name brands, and our perfumes are just as high in quality.”
Now stocked in more than 250 wholesale partners across Australia, New Zealand and the USA (including David Jones and Adore Beauty) and with more than 50,000 bottles of fragrance sold since 2018, who is elijah is continuing on the path of world domination, one unique scent at a time.

Visit their website to shop the collection, or to find a stockist near you.