Cuir Beluga

I was lucky enough to have in my hands an extraordinary project, the one I had been dreaming of for a long time and which took place in 2005: the Maison Guerlain, the first point of sale halfway between the prestigious boutique on the ground floor (at 68 avenue des Champs-Élysées), created in 1914, and its institute on the first floor, created in 1939. This extraordinary place would not have existed without the fierce determination of the management. This temple of beauty and perfume is a place that celebrates the roots and wings of Guerlain, in other words, the history and future of Guerlain through new creations freely imagined.

Within the framework of this laboratory of new ideas the line "L'Art et la Matière" was born, which represents about 30% of the sales of this beautiful brand. The first three fragrances created were Angélique Noire, Rose Barbare and Cuir Beluga, then there were Cruel Gardénia, Bois d'Arménie, Tonka Impériale and Double Vanille, which I developed. Now there are others, Néroli Outre noir and Hypnotique Ylang, most of them created by Delphine Jelk. The purpose of this collection is to honour a Guerlain raw material that is part of the brand's DNA. These are not "soli-notes", but perfumes, very faceted, with a real bias.

The leather note is found in Jicky, and even more so in Shalimar, Habit Rouge or Vol de Nuit. For me, the leather note is synonymous with a dark, animal note, very much linked to the masculine universe: leather jacket, Jaguar interior of course. These are quite animal notes, too raw for me, they are not part of my universe. So I started to dream of a light leather note. More precisely a white suede, feminine, powdery, vanilla note. A resolutely feminine perfume that I could wear (I admit that I am sometimes unfaithful to Heure Bleue).

The story of Cuir Beluga

The story of Cuir Beluga begins at a party organised by a major perfume company, with the aim of introducing new creative ideas through olfactory terminals. Few people that evening were really interested in scents, although there was a superb buffet.

I fell in love with an accord (skeleton of a perfume) created by Olivier Polge. Almost the next day, I started working on the note with him. The leather note was "sudéral", a synthetic note. Indeed, before, we could use birch wood but, from now on, it is impossible. And, little by little, we dressed up this leather note with a top note of aldehydes and mandarin, and a heart and base note of immortelle, patchouli, heliotrope and vanilla. We really struggled with this idea, it was not easy to work on. Many times, in the corridors, charming colleagues would tell me: "You should leave it alone, it's not great".

I held on and Cuir Beluga is a perfume that is now worn by women or men, an intimate, sexy, very cocooning perfume, a very appreciated perfume! It even managed to seduce the Guerlain "purists" and that's a pleasure, even if I'm well aware that the masterpieces created by the Guerlain perfumers are indestructible.

By the way, the name Beluga is there to evoke luxury, the top of the top! Sorry, there is no caviar in the formula.

The products of the House of Guerlain are now in other boutiques in Paris, but also in New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Montreal, Düsseldorf, London and other boutiques in the pipeline: Belgium, Spain, etc.

Sylvaine Delacourte perfumes

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.