There are so many things going on behind the scenes with Contradiction, and it takes patience and willingness to travel along with the scent throughout the day to gain a true appreciation of it. La Nuit de L'homme so there is no denying that the cardimom note is very prominent, and i dont know why people keep dismising its performance as I sprayed it on my pillow one night and had a very pleasamt sleep, when I awoke after a soothing 12 hour powernap, I could still smell it on my pillow. At first, it has a terrible herbal-medicinal note, like a cough herbal syrup, then it smells nice and soft with delicate lily of the valley and wood note, just to disappear after a few minutes. The eucalyptus note in the heart, is possibly what causes some to refer to this fragrance as being metallic. If I were to start a challenging job somewhere where having guts to take risks were a must - that would be the bottle ( a very nice design to my eye) I would reach for.

I suppose the usage of sharp and sweet might've been the point of Contradiction, and as high school was over 10 years ago my skin chemistry is more than likely just different.Also, It's not something I would recommend to wear to the office, maybe for an occasion, event or party where you need to stand out from the crowd. To me eucalyptus is a medicinal sinus clearing smell and I do not detect that at all in this fragrance. This fragrance makes me think of a really soft scented body lotion and reminds me a little bit of mania by Armani. But where DK Gold is warm, strong, and of a completely different character (aside from the lily note), Contradiction is cool and at once both watery/aquatic and dry/aromatic, clean floral and salty musky -- nicely full of contradictions!

The packaging is unique and pleasing to the eye- the silver lid contrasting with the off-peach perfume is quite a nice touch. The heart is dazzling: black pepper, lavender, orange, cardamom, coriander, patchouli, lily of the valley, violet, cashmeran, bubinga wood, nutmeg, clove. For me, the eucalyptus is quite far forward in the mix throughout, but it's a 'smooth and cool' element, rather than a 'sharp and cool' element. This is a nice heavy bottle and a classy looking too - I'm not a fan of the celeb bottles with plastic dolls or tacky rhinestones. I get hints of the scent I remembered in the background, but the eucalyptus kicks it backstage, not wanting it to steal its spotlight.Contradiction was one of my few high school perfumes and boy does it bring back memories of clothes from The Buckle and the like. It smells like it's got a very light wood in it like blondewood or something that gives it a slight dry tone. I was surprised at how similar it was to Contradiction, but much sweeter (to my chemistry's detriment). And because it wasn't available around me at the time I only got a full bottle of it just a few years ago, after happening across it by accident.