The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Ocean Eyes started with a request. Raquel Bouris's father wanted something different from the Who is Elijah house, less wood, more him. Growing up in Cronulla, a coastal suburb of Sydney, the answer had been there the whole time: the ocean. Not a distant memory or a vacation reference, but the actual smell of salt water and open air that shaped her childhood. She built the fragrance around that feeling, the one you carry home from the beach even when you're far from it.
The structure pulls two directions at once. Mandarin and grapefruit give you brightness, the kind that hits first thing in the morning, before the day has decided what it wants to be. Then the sea salt arrives, not as a background note but as the main event, the part that makes this unmistakably aquatic. Juniper sits underneath, keeping it from tipping into something too clean. The base is where it gets personal: amberwood, musk that stays close. Less projection, more presence. That's the trade-off built into the formula, power that doesn't announce itself.
The evolution
The opening hits fast. Grapefruit and mandarin, tart and bright, sitting right on the skin. The sea salt takes over, not the clean aquatic of shower gel, but something with more texture, more mineral. The kind of salt that lingers on skin after a swim. The juniper surfaces, green and quiet, almost herbal. Then it settles. The salt doesn't disappear, it softens into the background, sitting underneath the musk and amberwood that arrive in the drydown. By the time the base notes fully develop, it's skin-close and warm. The longevity holds well, lasting through a full day on most skin types. On fabric, it lasts longer, lingering on a t-shirt or a pillowcase well into the next day. The fragrance evolves as hours pass, revealing new facets without ever losing its core identity. What starts as crisp and bright gradually deepens into something more intimate, more personal.
Cultural impact
Ocean Eyes arrived in 2024 as part of Who is Elijah's approach to accessible, everyday aquatics that don't rely on heavy woods or spices. The brand has built its identity around approachable luxury, and this fragrance fits that mission without conforming to traditional masculine fragrance expectations. Its citrus-salt structure offers a fresh, versatile scent that performs across settings and seasons. The brand's Australian roots bring a distinct coastal perspective that informs how the fragrance captures the ocean without leaning into the typical aquatic tropes.
