Cuir Beluga is the unisex Eau de Parfum that Olivier Polge composed in 2005 for Guerlain, one of the first three opuses in L’Art & La Matière conceived by Sylvaine Delacourte. A leather as supple as white suede, the house says, refreshed with mandarin, brushed with immortelle, melting into a sillage of amber, musk and vanilla. In 50, 100 and 200 ml, refillable bottle inspired by the Flacon Carré of 1870.
Now Smell This calls it extremely sweet; Faliu (Auparfum) defends a pastel leather criticized for its vanilla; ÇaFleurBon a rich suede worthy of the Guerlain name.
Olfastory’s review
Now Smell This: an extremely sweet vanillic suede
Robin, on Now Smell This, describes in 2005 a soft citrus opening that dries down into a creamy cloud of vanillic suede, extraordinarily sweet and well-mannered. Next to Cuir Beluga, she writes, Serge Lutens's Daim Blond seems frankly daring, though she had considered it the beige leather of a grand luxury car.
Auparfum: a vanillic luxury leather, unjustly criticized
Juliette Faliu sees in it one of the first contemporary leathers, supple, tender, white and luminous, neither smoky nor bitter, stitched onto sudéral. She notes its poor reputation, reduced to its billowing vanilla, and disputes it: the image of a city woman perched on her boots, a downy shawl at her neck, a generous and simple elegance.
ÇaFleurBon: a suede without edge
The American magazine, in 2014, describes a rich, suede-like fragrance, without edge, worthy of the Guerlain name and heritage; some hear Shalimar or L’Heure Bleue in it, but Cuir Beluga stands on its own, for a writer whom it transports to a winter Central Park, wrapped in a golden sable.