diff --git a/src/midje/ideas/formulas.clj b/src/midje/ideas/formulas.clj
index 05fc6aa14..6e4ab9967 100644
--- a/src/midje/ideas/formulas.clj
+++ b/src/midje/ideas/formulas.clj
@@ -3,13 +3,16 @@
 
 (def #^:dynamic *num-generations* 100)
 
-(defmacro formula [bindings & body]
-  `(do
-     (macro-for [_# (range (dec *num-generations*))]
+(defmacro formula [docstring? & bindings+body]
+  (let [[docstring? bindings body] (if (string? docstring?) 
+                                     [docstring? (first bindings+body) (rest bindings+body)]
+                                     [nil docstring? bindings+body])]
+    `(do
+       (macro-for [_# (range (dec *num-generations*))]
+         (let ~bindings
+           (midje.sweet/fact ~docstring?
+             ~@body :formula :formula-in-progress )))
+  
        (let ~bindings
-         (midje.sweet/fact
-           ~@body :formula :formula-in-progress )))
-
-     (let ~bindings
-       (midje.sweet/fact
-         ~@body :formula :formula-conclude ))))
+         (midje.sweet/fact ~docstring?
+           ~@body :formula :formula-conclude )))))
diff --git a/test/midje/t_sweet.clj b/test/midje/t_sweet.clj
index 8870664b9..5ae460a9f 100644
--- a/test/midje/t_sweet.clj
+++ b/test/midje/t_sweet.clj
@@ -325,14 +325,19 @@
   (provided 
     (a) =throws=> (IllegalArgumentException. "blammo")))
 
+
+;; failed formulas report once per formula regardless how many generations were run
 (after-silently
-  (formula [a "y"]
+  (formula "some description" [a "y"]
     a => :foo))
 (fact @reported => (one-of (contains {:type :formula-fail
-                                      :first-failure (contains {:type :mock-expected-result-failure})})))
+                                      :first-failure (contains {:type :mock-expected-result-failure
+                                                                :description "some description"})})))
 
 (defn make-string []
   (rand-nth ["a" "b" "c" "d" "e" "f" "g" "i"]))
 
-(formula [a (make-string) b (make-string)]
+(formula 
+  "can now use simple generative-style formulas" 
+  [a (make-string) b (make-string)]
   (str a b) => (has-prefix a))
\ No newline at end of file