When I was young, my mom would make me a warm cup of milk each evening before bed.
Years later, I found myself continuing the same ritual, steeping fragrant black tea and adding delicate lavender and aromatic cardamom to create a comforting cup all my own.
This letter is about that cup, and about how it ended up in a bottle. But to explain the bottle, I have to start with why my perfume house exists at all.
the reason this house exists
I founded Elysian Parfum in 2021 as a tribute to my late sister.
During her long, painful battle with cancer, she and I bonded over a shared love of perfume. It was our comfort, our connection and our escape.
“After she passed, I began blending fragrances as a way to hold onto her presence.”jessi park
The name comes from combining her children’s names, Elysia and Evan. It also means “of heaven.”
her children’s names, joined into one. it means “of heaven.”
It’s the name on every bottle we make.
what i learned about scent
Our homepage says it in eight words: each scent a story, each bottle a memory. That line isn’t just poetry.
researchers have found that memories brought back by a smell feel more emotional than memories brought back by other cues. a scent can carry a feeling, not just a smell.
Herz and Schooler, American Journal of Psychology, 2002 · Chu and Downes, Chemical Senses, 2000So Lavender Milk Tea doesn’t start from a list of notes. It starts from a cup, and from a ritual I kept going long after I grew up.
the cup i finally bottled
The warm milk from my mom, and the black tea, lavender and cardamom I added to it years later: that’s what I set out to put in a bottle.
- freshly steeped black tea
- english lavender
- warm cardamom
- steamed milk
- vanilla bean
- golden honey
- creamy tuberose
- tonka bean
- cashmere blanket
- soft musk
lavender milk tea is that cup: steeped black tea, english lavender, warm cardamom, steamed milk, vanilla bean, golden honey, creamy tuberose, tonka bean and soft musk.
It’s an extrait de parfum in a 50ml bottle, and it’s $169.
One customer wrote that before finding it, they had “exhausted all my options at Sephora/ Ulta - nothing really captivating or experientially complex.”
see lavender milk teathen it started winning things
Honestly, this next part still surprises me.
We entered it in the 2024 New You Beauty Awards and it won Best New Fragrance.
In 2025, AskMen’s Grooming Awards named it the Most Relaxing Fragrance and called it
“a gentle invitation to unwind, a fragrant sanctuary in a bottle.”
That’s their editors’ line, not mine.
But the words I keep coming back to are the ones people write after they wear it.
“this was the first fancy one I had ever bought... OH MY GOD it makes me want to dive headfirst into the perfume world if something can smell THIS good.”
what it smells like (honestly)
A name like Lavender Milk Tea can sound like a dessert, so here’s the honest version.
it is not a candy perfume. it opens bright with lavender, turns creamy and milky, and settles into soft black tea close to your skin.
- opensbright lavender
- thencreamy, milky tea
- latersoft black tea, close to the skin
One of our customers, Ashe Tsay, described the way it changes better than I could:
“At first very bright and floral, the lavender packs a punch! Over time come out the caramelly milky tones, giving tea toasted on the stove before and after steeping kind of moment. The notes later after the milkiness has passed is definitely more true to a black tea with wafts of that lavender.”
It also isn’t loud. One customer put it better than I could:
“Exquisite fragrance. The notes are very nuanced. It’s not a loud fragrance and it’s very elegant.”
V.F., verified buyer, on lavender milk teaAnd when it won in 2024, the New You editors wrote that they “also loved that the fragrance lasted all day.”
see lavender milk teamade by my family, start to finish
I know $169 is real money for a perfume, so here’s what goes into each bottle.
From the first formulation to bottling, labeling and wrapping, every step is done by us.
- 01formulationin-house
- 02bottlingin-house
- 03labelingin-house
- 04wrappingin-house
Every bottle is hand-bottled and packaged by our family here in Georgia. My husband and daughter help package and mail the orders.
Each scent is handcrafted in small batches using fine naturals: concretes, absolutes, resins and tinctures.
why every bottle ships with a sample
Buying a perfume you’ve never smelled is a real risk. One of our customers put it plainly:
“I usually get sample sizes because I’m afraid to buy the full size without smelling it and then end up not liking it.”Haley, an elysian customer
So every full bottle comes with a way to try it first. Tap through how it works:
us orders. shipping fees aren't refundable. discovery sets and travel sprays are final sale.
That way the sample makes the decision, not the photos on this page.
see lavender milk tea
