One of my very favourite things on the internet is still the video of a beluga whale serenaded by a very jolly mariachi band. Watching the beluga grooving gently and intently is almost as soothing as watching red pandas play–though I reserve those strictly for sadness emergencies–right up until the moment you bump into the ethical discomfort of keeping cetaceans in captivity.

Guerlain’s Cuir Beluga is just as sweet, though a lot less intelligent. It doesn’t hold up to a whole lot of thinking–particularly if you’re thinking about the price–but it’s an outrageously pretty cloud of heliotrope-flecked vanilla meringue without a molecule of skank, animalics, or challenge.

It’s as self-indulgent as watching yourself cry in a mirror, or wearing silky drawers without even the possibility of misbehaviour.

But sometimes maybe you do just need to load calming manatees on repeat, wear good underwear, smell nicely-made fuzzy things, and have all the spine of a marshmallow.

originally posted 1st May 2019