Story by Paul Smith, 2006

I am totally revising my previous review in which I highly praised PS Story. While it isn't bad, it's not my favorite fresh vetiver scent. I feel fresh vetiver scents are hard to pull off, or maybe I just don't wanna smell it too often, as I think vetiver goes better with woods as opposed to citrus. Regardless.. Story is one of the better citrus/vetivers. It's fresh, grassy, oily. The smell reminds me of fresh cut grass, with oil poured over it. Yes, motor oil.. not so much gasoline. It's fresh, yet still a little dirty, which I think is what keeps my attention; while at the same time, I think that's why it's discontinued, because of some aroma's that may not please the average Joe's. In the realm of fresh and citrus vetivers, on the designer side, I think Story is my favorite. My biggest gripe is longevity and projection issues, as I usually only get about 4 hours with it. It does remind me of a more complex and less synthetic smelling version of He Wood (which smells like magic marker to me, it also reminds me of Creed Original Vetiver's dry down. Again, this isn't my favorite fresh vetiver. In fact, I think the whole genre of such isn't really my taste. Although if I had to pick 2 that are outstanding, they would be Bois Blonds, and Grey Vetiver. Both being a bit more pricey, and niche. I don't think Story is bottle worthy, simply because I don't have a purpose for this genre of scent in my collection. However, for designer's in this genre, I think it's the best one I've tried. I give this one a hesitant neutral rating, because of purpose, longevity, projection, and some minor flaws in craftsmanship, that affect my personal taste.

This is an interesting compromise between the bright soapy green of Mugler or Creed OV, and the dark moist sharp green of Eau de Gentiane Blanche or Eau de Campagne. Initially it's like a sharper Mugler, with a wet, ivy-like soapy green, not very sweet but very astringent. Then, while other scents become soapier at this point, Story becomes greener: an earthy forest green, with some dirt but not much, so that it still remains clean. It's mainly ivy from this point forward, which is cool and refreshing for summer, but one caveat here is an underlying rubberiness, imparting that sense of "eau de shoe store" that I find in a small number of fragrances. It's not as bad as in some others I've tried, though. It weakens quite a bit after this, getting duller and dirtier as it completely loses that initial sparkle. There's a little bit of spearmint in what's left, and it feels like it's trying to bolster both the strength and the freshness, but not making much inroads toward either. Overall this isn't a bad offering, and is admittedly pretty cheap, but if you've got the money, I'd consider the four aforementioned scents, or even the archetypal Paco Rabanne. But if someone starts selling bottles of "Paul Smith Story Minutes 0-5", I'll buy one!

This stuff is dangerous!

I bought this juice for its brilliant opening, duly praised by previous reviewers. Comparison with the top only underlines the poverty of the later notes, but, as I learned, you dont need a lot of dynamite to blow yourself up.

I work with a woman who has the nose of a bloodhound (although her tail is shorter). Every morning, as I walk past her door on the way to my office she jumps to her feet to give me a thumbs-up (or down) critique of my fragrance choice for the day. I pretend to care, she pretends to go back to work and all is well for the rest of the day. How she can smell something from 20 feet away that a normal person can barely detect while standing beside me is one of the deep mysteries of our age. I should invite her out to hunt truffles.

The day I wore Story all hell broke loose. Instead of delivering the thumb verdict Ms. Noze shot out of her office at a quick waddle, followed me down the hall skipitty-trot, tackled me and parked her nostrils square on my shirt snorrrk, snork.

Yummm she says. Whats this one? Her move attracted spectators whom she waved off as the princess might shoo away her chambermaids before the arrival of her brother, The Tsarevitch.

An hour later shes back. As I take care not to let her get between me and the door she inhales and pronounces Yup, still there!. This goes on till about noon when the glory starts to fade. Ms. Noze demands to know what I did to the scent. She departs, crushed by the truth, not to be seen for the rest of the day.

I wear scent to please myself, not to win friends, influence people or invite tackles. Of the 50 or so that Ive worn, this is the only juice that has earned a yellow card.

I dont know whether these particular top notes are unsustainable through the usual perfumers alchemy or they are short-lived by design, but this stuff could be HUGE for the House of Smith if they could find a way to either string them out or compose a worthy second movement. Thumbs up for the opening. The rest? Meh!