Grit & Poise by West Third Brand

Lemon, Muguet, Amber, Labdanum, Olibanum, Incense, Patchouli, Vanilla Bean.

Grit & Poise goes on a bit oily for starters. I just thought I should point that out. The vanilla is prominent from the initial application. There's also some balsam and resins in there for good measure. The opening accord is actually very nice; not overtly sweet and to me, gender neutral.

Like others from this house, there's not much in the way of transitions and goes on fully developed. I'm not sure if Poise & Grit separates itself enough from the many others in this genre to grab hold of the wearer. It's a pleasant wear, but so are thousands of others.

This has the base to accommodate some interesting things for a prelude, but it chooses not to. The base is "safe", yet sometimes making no waves is as bad as making the wrong ones. I suppose Poise & Grit feels "incomplete" to me and at the same time smells nice. Suffice it so say that if you like your Vanilla accented with Labdanum and Resin, this should be sampled.

Sillage is good with longevity approximately 6 hours on me and longer as a skin scent. Neutral rating from Aromi since this didn't live up to its potential. As always, a sample wear is highly recommended.