Another one of the recent samples, I’ve received is Play by Givenchy. It came out almost ten years ago and they describe it as a fresh woody scent. I’d actually put it more into the citrus/spice category, though. In this post, I want to give an overview of how it smells, how Play performs, and whether or not this Givenchy cologne is a buy.
What does Play by Givenchy Smell Like?
Notes include: bergamot, bitter orange, grapefruit, coffee flower accord, amyris wood, vetiver
Click here to try: Givenchy Play for Men by Givenchy 3.3 oz 100 ml EDT Spray
My Full Wear Review
The opening of Givenchy Play is a blend of citrus, mainly dominated by grapefruit, and a spicy pepper note. I am immediately struck by how this smells exactly like Hugo Red, if you replaced the metallic note in Red with a coffee note in Play.
Seriously, these two are almost dead ringers for one another. Since I like wearing Hugo Red in the summer; I like Givenchy Play. As Play develops more, the coffee note becomes more noticeable which give it an interesting richness, that gives it that slight difference from Red.
That’s for the opening act, it becomes more distinct from the Boss scent, after that.
Moving along, Play continues its freshness with the variety of citrus notes, and the oncoming base woodsy notes. Amyris wood? That’s the note, not sure I’ve encountered it though. Pretty generic wood smell.
Vetiver has some prominence here, though, it doesn’t strike me as powerful. Citrus with a clean spice and a fresh earthy/woods aroma.
So, mostly citrus and spice. The coffee note isn’t as strong, as it is in Play Intense. It’s not too complicated, however, a fun wear.
Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility
Projection wise, Play is pretty moderate, and might even be slightly weaker than Hugo Red. The sillage isn’t going to go beyond a few feet, except upon the initial spray. Definitely not a powerhouse, by any stretch.
It’s longevity is pretty decent, around 6-7 hours of solid performance. Pretty standard. Many citrus colognes like this one, don’t last very long. This is actually decent, in this category, as some fade after 2-3 hours.
To me, this is a spring/summer type of scent that is good for casual everyday wear. You could wear this in semi-formal situations or out at night, also. Still, I mainly wore the sample around town, when it was warm and sunny out.
Overall Impressions of Play
Overall, is Play a buy? It’s a very nice fragrance but it smells like Hugo Red and you can get a larger bottle of that for cheaper. Update: Givenchy Play came out in 2008. Nowadays, you’ll probably have to pony up a lot of money to get a bottle. Paying a few hundred for this stuff is absurd. For cheap, it’s worth a try.
However, if you were looking into Givenchy Play Intense as well, it would make sense to grab Hugo Red and a bottle of Play Intense too.
The Intense version is much more of a gourmand scent for the cooler months of the year and has way less of the citrus and more of the coffee and a tonka bean note.
I really like the citrus here and the light coffee. I dig summertime citrus colognes and I enjoyed wearing Play. Not my favorite, but was a solid example from the last decades.
Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with the different fragrances that I’ve owned, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, that new hobby grew into a consistent passion, helping millions of readers along the way. I have personally written reviews for well over 800 perfumes and colognes for both men and women. This is along with writing hundreds of other in-depth fragrance guides.
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