Note Pyramid
BenzoinPi
Pine is the last thing most people expect in a sweet men's fragrance, and the pine needles in Givenchy Pi Eau de Toilette are what has kept it on shelves since the late nineties.
Our row for it is short, three materials, and the scent is not a complicated one. Mandarin orange opens it, soft and sweet and rounder than most citrus, with none of the bite a sharper fruit would bring. Pine needles come in behind, and they are the surprise, green and resinous and faintly medicinal, the smell of a branch snapped rather than a cleaning product. That contrast, soft fruit against sharp conifer, is the first half of the fragrance. Benzoin is the whole of the base, a balsamic resin with a warm, slightly powdery, almost toffee like sweetness, and once it arrives it stays, turning the whole thing comfortable.
Three materials and no middle section at all, so this behaves like a short composition. It does not evolve so much as settle, and the sweetness builds as the citrus burns off.
Toilette strength gives five or six hours with moderate reach, enough for a day at a desk, and it is forgiving if you overspray. Cooler weather suits it, and it works for men who like a bit of warmth in a fragrance and have no interest in smelling sporty or aquatic. It is as good at a desk as it is in a pub, and it has aged better than most of what was released alongside it. Alberto Morillas composed it and it dates from 1998, which places it in the middle of a run of successful men's launches. Givenchy, the Paris house Hubert de Givenchy founded in 1952 and now an LVMH holding, has kept it in the range ever since.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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