Liis is a California-based niche perfume house founded by Alissa Sullivan and Leslie Hendin, two longtime fragrance lovers who grew up just minutes from each other in Marin County but didn’t connect until adulthood. Sullivan is classically trained in perfumery (ISIPCA, Versailles), while Hendin comes from a design and artistic background and is self-taught in scent. Together, they launched Liis in 2020 with a shared vision: to use fragrance as a medium for personal expression.
The founders believe in scent as something worn like a second skin – something familiar, intimate, and transformative. Liis invites wearers to experience fragrance in a way that feels authentic, personal, and open-ended: to “create your own world where anything is possible.”
A collection of deep, woody, resinous, warm, musky, spicy scents.
Contains 2ml each—
Studied: Ambrette, Pear, Carrot Seed, Orris
Bo: White Cedar, Incense, Vanilla Beans
Of True Minds: Amaretto, Suede, Patchouli
Ethereal Wave: Cardamom, Tea, Velvet Musk
Celestial Object: Quince, Tonka, Rice Paper
A fragrance inspired by opposites — angelic allure and emotional depth. Bergamot and cardamom sing atop white tea, and black tea absolute, cascading into a luscious tapestry of blonde woods and velvet musk.
Inspired by flowers frozen in ice and dramatic winter skies transforming into spring — a fleeting moment captured in scent. A study in contrasts and impermanence, a modern, reimagined rose.
In keeping with this ethos, Liis emphasises clean, conscious, minimalist formulation. Their perfumes are made in California, using organic sugarcane alcohol; they are cruelty-free, vegan, allergy-tested, and formulated without preservatives, dyes, phthalates, sulfates, or silicones. Each scent strikes a balance between simplicity and storytelling—recognisable notes woven into scent stories that reflect emotion, memory, place.
Liis works in collaboration with perfumer Jérôme Epinette (among others). Their fragrance line includes a growing number of offerings, each unisex/gender-neutral. Some of the names in the collection include Bo, Ethereal Wave, Floating, Lucienne, Rose Struck, and Studied. The Liis scents tend to be atmospheric, often light to moderate in sillage, evoking moments rather than making bold declarations. Some are inspired by places from the founders’ lives, textures of sunlight, moments of introspection, or emotional states, rather than purely by traditional fragrance tropes.
