Pi
Givenchy (1999)

I really really like Pi and it’s one of the staples of my fall/winter rotations.

It does have a burst of powder aroma but it gives way fairly quickly and settles on a clean smelling vanilla. It is a heavier scent so I would never wear it in warm weather but it’s perfect for brisk cold days.

Pi is one of those fragrances that I can see always being in my rotation. It’s not a head turner, but it’s a dependable and consistent welcomed addition. Longevity is good, usually lasting around 10 hours but the projection does decrease fairly quickly.

After disappearing from department store shelves for what feels like a decade, Givenchy Pi made its return debut at my local mall. There it was, right next to Reserve Privee, staring me in the face for the first time since I was in high school and dismissed this as a vanilla candle scent better sold as a room fragrance. Born in the age gourmands of A*Men (basically a manly chocolate and spice cake fragrance) and Rochas Man (creamy vanilla and sweet cream coffee), Pi now stands beside fragrances like Code Absolu (well, I guess not anymore since it was discontinued a few months ago) and maybe some of the more recent JPG flankers of Le Male, which I admit I am not very familiar with.

Where Code Absolu takes vanilla and combined it with leather, tonka, and light citrus to keep it masculine and fresh, Pi goes more down the, well, the sweet candle route. Again, this is my impression smelling it off a card. I need to try it on skin still, but it would be interesting to note how the trail scent compares to Code Absolu.

$50/100mL for such an old fragrance and an EdT at that is probably too high of an ask. While Pi gets a lukewarm thumbs up from me as a boring cool weather scent, I haven't changed my opinion in the last decade in thinking think you can get a more impressive sniff for a little more money.

I can appreciate the composition of this scent, but I can't get past the baby powder vibes. Also, I'm not a big fan of almond notes in fragrances, so this one is a double whammy. I wish I could enjoy it because I love the shape of the bottle and the color of the juice.

There was a period of time, between 1988 and 2000, when were launched many good fragrances that became classics and changed the perfumery. First aquatics, first gourmands, first unisex fragrances, more sweet ambery fragrances... they all came during that time.

The first unisex marketed fragrance was CK One (1994), created by Morillas and Fremont. A fresh floral and musky scent that became a instant classic. In 1996, another one. This time, a fresh aquatic masculine. Acqua di Giò. Morillas was, again, one of the perfumers. In 98, he came out with this idea for Givenchy. A unisex woody amber scent that became another classic and more around women, actually. They adopted this masculine scent that, at the time, was a bit too sweet for a regular guy, I'd guess. At the time, we were experiencing a change of perspective. The rise of woody spicy and sweet ambery masculines. This helped the popularity of that category. Women wanted their boyfriends to smell like this so they could steal it sometimes. Although Joop! Homme (1989) was maybe the first going sickly sweet, this has more fluffy elements that captivate women.

Looking for the marketing and bottle, everything seems weird. Even the pyramid is a bit weird. Ironwood and Infinium?? (I still can't find what it's supposed to smell like). The smell itself is much more easy to understand. What we find here is, mainly, a sweet benzoin driven scent with mandarin orange on top. There's a lot of base notes and sweetness (but not the contemporary sweetness) which makes this fragrance very linear. There's a hint of freshness in the opening, with the mandarin orange, but the overall experience is very monochordic. Coumarin and benzoin which translates to sweet almonds. That's it. But smells really good. It's like a warm hug. Luca Turin wasn't a fan at all but I find it quite alluring and different from what we see today. An appealing sweet scent that isn't cloying or ultra cheap smelling like many recent fragrances.

Definitely for fall and winter, for a cooler or/and rainy day. I have a vintage bottle with a small Pi logo on the bottom of the bottle and the performance is great. 12+ hours easily. Very persistent. The newer batches aren't that strong but I think you'll still have decent performance with them. The smell is basically the same, since it's essentially benzoin and coumarin.

Alberto Morillas is a really good perfumer and you have many different examples that proves that. This might not be his top 10 best creations, but is surely a classic, an alluring and appealing scent, and a must try! A great unisex scent that is been forgotten over the years by youtubers and bloggers.

4/5

Givenchy Pi is a masterpiece. I actually thought it could be from the 80’s but I see it was released in ‘99. This fragrance is very strong so be modest and use less sprays. To me, Pi smells like what I wanted YSL Opium pour homme to smell like. The opening is a blast! The dry down is lovely and comforting. This is definitely a winter frag for me. It takes me to a warm happy place inside when I smell it. I actually keep it bedside because I like to spray it once before I fall asleep. It’s a very relaxing scent. I highly recommend it for date nights and cooler evenings. This one will never be dated to me. It’s timeless.

Although it's not listed in the notes here, there is a very distinct coconut note shortly after the opening top notes begin to fade into the mid-notes, and it lingers well into the drydown. Whether this is intentional, or a by-product of how the other notes interact, it is quite unmistakable, and helps prevent Pi from being just another vanilla-amber scent. It works surprisingly well in warm weather, without smelling like suntan lotion.