Elorea is the beautiful brainchild of co-founders and husband-and-wife duo Wonny Lee and Su Min Park, who, upon a trip to South Korea back in 2019, noticed a distinct absence of Korean or other Asian-founded fragrance brands in beauty stores.  

Lee, a businessman at heart, and Park, a photographer and art director, combined their talents to launch a luxury fragrance brand that gives a heartful nod to their heritage as Korean Americans.

The brand’s name, Elorea, is a fusion of “Korea” and “Elements,” a testament to its deep-rooted Korean inspiration. The first collection, “The Elements,” is a tribute to the trigrams of the South Korean flag, symbolizing earth, fire, water, and heaven. The bottles feature the fragrance name in Korean and English, along with the corresponding trigram, a subtle nod to the brand’s cultural heritage.

Even if you aren’t a die-hard fragrance lover (I certainly am not), you will most definitely find something you like with Elorea’s range of soft to more powerful but elegant scents.

You have fragrances like Gentle Shower, which comes from the Korean word jambi [잠비], which means an unexpected rain that allows harvesters to have a moment of rest and features notes like perilla leaf, ginger, and rose to ones like (my personal favorite) Fire, which features notes like lime, leather, and roasted tonka to create a sweet, smokey, scent. 

Elorea carries an impressive assortment of items, from perfumes to candles to diffusers to body care products, so you have ample gift choices to treat yourself or a loved one. 

If you live in New York, please take the time to pop down to 41 Spring Street to check out Elorea’s flagship location. It is a combination fragrance shop and cafe with a variety of delicious and aesthetically pleasing drinks.