Fragrance’s New Modern Voice: Who Is Elijah Extends Global Reach With US Entrance Through Revolve
Who Is Elijah traces its roots to Coachella, where founder Raquel Bouris first fell in love with a fragrance oil that sparked her idea for the brand.
It feels fitting, then, that seven years later, the Australian fragrance brand is entering American retail through Revolve, a destination deeply rooted in festival culture known for its annual event at Coachella. Bouris was so thrilled for it to land at Revolve she cried when she received a contract from the company.
“It’s been on my manifestation board since I launched Who Is Elijah,” she says. “Revolve has always been a cultural touchpoint for what’s next. I’m a Revolve, customer and I’m also the Who Is Elijah customer, so I instantly feel it falls in line.”
Who Is Elijah’s eight best-selling scents will be available at Revolve starting today. They include cult favorites Nomad, Wall Street, Ocean Eyes and Electric Soul along with a discovery set and 10-ml. trios designed for on-the-go wear. The brand’s 100-ml. bottles retail for $169 and 10-ml. travel sizes are $45.
“It’s perfect for Revolve,” says Bouris. “When people are buying outfits for the weekend, they can grab a scent to match. Fragrance is the finishing touch.”
The brand achieved triple-digit revenue growth annually from 2018 to 2024. Last year, its sales hit 20 million in Australian dollars or roughly $13 million at the current exchange rate. Bouris is now focused on its existing distribution and laying the foundation for the next phase of growth.
“We get approached by lots of retailers now, which is amazing, but other than Revolve, we don’t want to be moving forward with any new retailers for a good 12 to 18 months,” she says. “I think what we need to be doing in the U.S. is building our brand awareness, and it’s not something that I truly understood before this year. So, we’re being very cautious and particular.”
Who Is Elijah is traveling to retail in the United States at an interesting crossroads for the fragrance category. While it’s the fastest growing in beauty, its momentum appears to be moderating. Market research firm Circana reports that prestige fragrance sales rose 6% during the first half of the year to $3.9 billion versus 12% in the same period last year. Designer brands and emerging powerhouses like YSL, Valentino, Donna Karan, Lancome, Chanel, Prada, Armani, Sol De Janeiro, Phlur and Kayali are dominating fragrance sales at Sephora, Ulta Beauty and Amazon.
In addition to Revolve, Who Is Elijah is available at Cult Beauty and Sephora in the United Kingdom, where it premiered two weeks ago. To celebrate its Sephora U.K. debut, Bouris hosted a master class in the retailer’s new Cardiff, Wales location. Bouris admits that not every retail expansion has gone perfectly for Who Is Elijah and its Cult Beauty placement hasn’t gone as successfully as planned as a result of the brand’s lack of recognition. Who Is Elijah previously pulled out of Boots due to misalignment. Three-quarters of Who Is Elijah’s sales are from Australia, 10% the U.S., 10% the U.K. and 5% New Zealand. The brand is stocked at Sephora in Australia.
As it ramps up its U.S. presence, Who Is Elijah has tapped public relations firm Infinitive Creative Agency and hired Brittany Austin, former senior marketing manager at Apple and Puma, as head of brand marketing. She’s tasked with building Who Is Elijah’s ambassador program. The brand already partners with 100 content creators globally on a paid and affiliate basis. Bouris says, “We want to create a program so that hundreds of people are talking about our fragrances all day every day in these regions, which we weren’t doing before, which sounds silly,” says Bouris.
IRL guerrilla style activations are a major marketing lever for the brand. The brand doles out samples and occasionally T-shirts spritzed with its scents in high foot traffic areas. In February, the brand produced an artificial intelligence video showing a huge bottle of Ocean Eyes being inflated on Bondi Beach in Australia, and Bouris dispersed fragrances in person to Bondi Beach visitors. The installation drew nearly 40,000 new followers on Instagram and racked up 20 million views. “They immediately connected with the brand, the visuals, the space and the memory,” she says.
One of the brand’s most notable marketing moments involved Sofia Richie Grainge. Bouris noticed the model and influencer bought its Nomad fragrance, and without hesitation, she hopped on a plane to Los Angeles to personally delivered it to her. She says, “It was spontaneous, audacious and totally on-brand.”
Bouris tends to be the star of Who Is Elijah’s social media content. She provides background information on scents and invites followers for peeks into its headquarters. However, she’d like to shift from behind-the-scenes content to higher level marketing campaigns such as a self-empowering campaign called “Find Your Selves” the brand kicked off this month that depicts its fragrances revealing different sides of the same person. In the campaign, Bouris is still front and center.
“This is the first time where I have felt that I’m seeing Who Is Elijah exactly how I envision it in my own mind and in my own head,” says Bouris. “It’s been a big elevation, and I feel like we’ve now found who we are and our true brand message.”
Self-funded Who Is Elijah is exploring fundraising and has started meeting with U.S. investors. It hopes to have funding locked in by the middle of next year. “I really want to make a big splash in the U.S., and we need help doing that,” says Bouris, underscoring the long-term objective is to “cement Who Is Elijah as the new modern voice of fragrance globally.”
In January, the brand will extend into body mists, with a new scent arriving in February. “We’re building a lifestyle fragrance house,” she says. “We have plans to expand into other categories while continuing to empower individuality through our scents and fragrances.”
