That is when I remembered the true nature of Pi - a cross between a classic 80's/90's oriental masculine and a vanilla monster. Before I bought my bottle of Pi Neo in Macy's, I took a moment to spray both Pi and Pi Neo on my arms. Whether or not Givenchy is following the urgings of the critics to be more open about the use of synthetics, it's clear that Givenchy is embracing synthetics in at least some marketing. Now I see that there is powdery harmony among the base notes! I had assumed that the benzoin-derived vanilla was the sole source of the powder note I love. They had embraced - publicly - the use of synthetics in Pi Neo.Ĭonsider Givenchy's description of Pi Neo on their website (see "Time: The Fragrance").Īt long last, I found out what it is that I love about this fragrance - the powdery musk note of Cosmone™.
In fact, I had already left the site and moved on before I realized that Givenchy had done something very interesting. So as I looked at the note pyramid for Pi Neo on the Givenchy website, I almost missed something. Now personally, being a chemist, I find synthetics to be just as beautiful as natural oils. Somebody - Burr, I think - said it's as if we prefer to think that still-life paintings are being done with fruit juice, rather than with colored pigments. Even among perfumistas and cologniacs, there are only a few synthetics which have gained much mindshare - hedione and Iso E Super® probably being the foremost.
Hiding behind a slew of naturally-named notes, many if not most of which are produced by synthetics, the makers seem intent on letting consumers delude themselves as to the composition of modern scents, which simply could not exist without heavy reliance on synthetic components. Despite the fact that modern fine fragrances are built - lock, stock, and barrel - using synthetics, there is a reluctance to tell the consumer about it. One of them is that fragrance houses need to be more up-front about the use of synthetics. There are several common threads in the writings of the major fragrance critics. And then, when I went to the store to buy it, that's when I figured out what's up with "Pi". That's when I finally figured out what's so "neo" about Pi Neo. On the day that I used my last sample, I went to the Givenchy website to get an image of Pi Neo for my Scent-of-the-Day bottle picture. At that point, I knew that I was going to buy Pi Neo. I felt like the heroine of a romance, who finally admits to herself that she's hot for the annoyingly self-confident hero. Finally, I admitted to myself what I knew all along - that I loved the scent. I kept putting off using my last sample of Pi Neo - saving it like a miser's last penny. I almost regretted buying Code, despite loving it so much. Maybe I should have waited, and not bought Armani Code so quickly, but perhaps gotten Pi Neo instead.
I found myself sniffing the empty sample foil for days after the juice was gone. I gave him a spare sample, but with some sadness. My fragrance buddy at work liked it, too. Still, I loved smelling Pi Neo on my arm. It would be like buying a Big and Tasty when I already had a Whopper. Although I love Code, I had no intention of buying something so similar. Later, I found striking similarities to Emporio Armani Diamonds For Men and (of all things) Tim McGraw's celebrity scent, McGraw. But what struck me was the similarity to Armani Code, which features a super-powdery, vanillic combination of guaiac wood and benzoin. I didn't get the marine aspect until months later, when my nose was significantly more trained. "Generic", "boring", "woody", "fresh", "marine", etc. People expected that Pi Neo would be both classic, in the sense of its older brother Pi, and also something novel, as befitting anything "neo". The short version is this: There was a lot of anticipation that Pi Neo would not only be the big new release of 2008, but that it would actually live up to the "Neo" part of its name. What? Why on Earth would I feel guilty about liking an expensive fragrance from a respected designer house? Well, my guilty pleasure is a designer fragrance - Givenchy Pi Neo. It's something you're not proud of liking, and it's probably mass-market stuff. If you're a vegetarian, maybe it's those straight-to-the-hips seasoned fries.
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