The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Paul Smith Sunshine For Men 2016 is a limited-edition take on the house's first fragrance from 2008, released the same year as the women's counterpart and priced as a collector's piece. The creative brief was simple: capture the colors of a sunrise in a bottle, those pinks, oranges, and pale blues that arrive before the day gets ambitious. Perfumer Domitille Michalon Bertier, working alongside Anne Flipo, translated that visual brief into scent through a seasonal partnership with the house's design team. The collection's packaging echoes this atmospheric intent, with bottled editions of both men's and women's versions showcasing sunrise and sunset sky photographs.
What makes the composition interesting is how the unusual notes do the heavy lifting. Starfruit, a note you rarely meet outside niche perfumery, brings a bright, almost tropical acidity that sits between the brightness of grapefruit and the green bite of coriander leaf. Anise in the base does something unexpected, too: instead of the sugary licorice sweetness you'd expect, it leans into a drier, slightly bitter facet that keeps the cedar and frankincense from feeling too polished.
The evolution
The opening lasts longer than you'd expect from something this bright. Grapefruit and coriander leaf arrive sharp, almost tart, and black pepper cuts through underneath like a quiet crackle. Twenty minutes in, the starfruit and nutmeg lift the composition into something fruitier but still grounded. By the second hour, anise surfaces and the whole thing gains a savory, slightly herbaceous undertone that's distinct from anything in the opening. The cedar and frankincense base carries the final hours without ever projecting loudly, close-skin scent territory, the kind a colleague catches when you lean past their desk. Six hours in, what's left is mostly soft cedar and a whisper of moss, which is to say: it leaves before it overstays.
Cultural impact
As a 2016 limited edition, Sunshine For Men occupies a specific slot in Paul Smith's fragrance calendar, the summer release that collectors reach for specifically because it was never meant to stay. Its rarity and the fact that it was the second year of the updated Sunshine line has made it a modest grail bottle among fans of the brand's seasonal scent tradition, though it never crossed over into mainstream awareness. The bottle design echoes its limited-edition status through sunrise-colored packaging designed by the house's in-house design studio.
