Contradiction by Calvin Klein

Not bad, a fragrance from many years ago, it projects little, low sillage, although it has a modest price, I would hardly buy it again.

This perfume, despite being delicious, its spicy notes gave me a headache. It was something truly contradictory, because I liked its scent but it was too heavy for me, and worst of all, it was my brother’s signature perfume for a long time. The longevity was brutal and so was the sillage. One of those perfumes they no longer make.

Opening similar to 212 VIP, a very nice lime. Then it dries down and has a classic structure, lavender in the middle phase and vetiver in the dry-down. Safe, inoffensive option for every day. Lasts 6 hrs and projects for the first hour, overspraying on the shirt it lasts the whole working day no problem. Rating 8.5/10

It’s an infamous fragrance, after buying it logically blind, if you test it you run away, I’ve used it as a bathroom air freshener.

Aromatic, citrusy, fresh and earthy, that’s what I perceived from the very first spray, it smells really lovely, masculine and fresh for summer nights, although its duration is very short, 3 or 4 hrs at most.

Exquisite sophisticated scent it reminded me for a moment of Pierre Cardin the one in the green box note (it doesn’t appear in the database here) a combination of woods and citruses that wraps you and leaves a charming pleasant balanced sillage its presence on my skin is about 6 hours not bad I give it a 9/10 I fell in love with this fragrance.

It’s a fragrance that can’t be missing from my collection, with an uncommon aroma. It goes through a variety of changes as the hours pass, it feels very fresh and spicy in the opening, then some woody notes. But if you’re in extreme heat, the mandarin stands out (spectacular). Although it hasn’t had many reviews. I’ll buy it again and again. Brilliant

Contradiction is a perfume I have known for a long time. For me it is a classic that never goes out of fashion. The opening is quite citrusy and aromatic, lime and mandarin feeling very well; surprisingly the citrus is not the usual sharp and fresh one, but lavender and clary sage soften it to offer a blend towards soapy that gives a traditional barbershop clean feeling. Very neat. From the start you feel the pepper, which gains body at the same time as the citrus fades and delivers to the nose a more balsamic accord along with lavender and clary sage that keep being perceived. At certain moments, cardamom says it is there and stings a little sugary, very nice. It stays in those neat accords and without too much evolution during the first hour and a half, even two hours depending on pH and climate, when you can already appreciate the vetiver peeking through and giving the fragrance the definitive masculine touch. This makes it lose the unisex nuance it may have had at first and which I certainly never saw clearly. It is an exquisite perfume, with class. It makes you feel good, confident, clean and dynamic. With reasonable projection and longevity it is excellent for the office in not excessively hot temperatures. I see it more for formal settings, although on spring and autumn nights it is ideal for outings with friends or family. I don’t know if it is still in production, later I will look at the batch of the bottle and post it for you. It can still be found online and at a very interesting price of about £20. I recommend its use from age 30 on; not because it looks classic on young people, but because there are better fragrances for these age ranges and it doesn’t seem to me to match the taste of current trends. In my collection it will always be, that’s for sure. For me it is a hidden jewel of perfumery. Greetings fragrance lovers!!! NOTE: I checked on checkfresh and the manufacturing date is May 2018. 1 year before the purchase date.

In my opinion Calvin Klein’s Contradiction is the only perfume that is timeless I mean… If someone walks past you wearing Obsession or Escape or ONE you recognise them immediately and you know their glory days are over. CK’s Contradiction is a perfume that has class. The top notes lavender mandarin are quickly overshadowed by pepper, coriander and musk, in my opinion this perfume is the smell of a “powerful man”

At the start lime stands out and somewhat mandarin. later it evolves following the spices, especially cardamom and pepper, with some coriander. It has too classic a drydown and by now very generic in masculine perfumes of this type. I find that this perfume has nothing oriental since I don’t notice sandalwood much and even less ebony wood. For me its true classification is Woody spicy. It hasn’t got great sillage and its longevity is moderate. And I can’t explain how on English Fragrantica many people have found it similar to Chanel’s Égoïste, which I also own. They have no resemblance in my opinion. The strength and expressiveness of the Chanel’s sandalwood is enough to differentiate it from this CK.

Contradiction is a perfume I’ve known for a long time. For me it’s a favourite classic that never goes out of style. The opening is quite citrusy and aromatic, with lime and mandarin coming through very nicely; surprisingly the citrus is not the usual sharp and fresh one, but lavender and clary sage soften it to offer a blend towards the soapy that gives a traditional barbershop clean feeling. Very neat. From the start you can feel the pepper, which gains body at the same time as the citrus fades and delivers to the nose a more balsamic accord together with the lavender and clary sage that are still perceptible. At certain moments, the cardamom makes its presence known and stings a little sweetly, very lovely. It stays in those neat accords without too much evolution during the first hour and a half, even two hours depending on pH and climate, when you can already appreciate the vetiver peeking through and giving the fragrance the definitive masculine touch. This makes it lose the unisex nuance it may have had at first and which I certainly never recognised clearly. It’s an exquisite, classy perfume. It makes you feel good, confident, clean and dynamic. With reasonable projection and longevity it is excellent for the office in not excessively hot temperatures. I see it more for formal settings, although on spring and autumn nights it is ideal for evenings out with friends or family. I don’t know if it’s still in production, later I’ll check the batch on the bottle and post it for you. It can still be found online and at a very interesting price of about £20. I recommend its use from age 30; not because it feels old-fashioned on young people, but because there are better fragrances for these age ranges and I don’t think it suits current trends. It will always be in my collection, that’s for sure. For me it’s a hidden gem of perfumery. Greetings fellow fragrance lovers!!! NOTE: I checked on checkfresh and the manufacturing date is May 2018. 1 year before the purchase date.

At the start, lime stands out with a touch of mandarin. It then evolves centred around the spices, above all cardamom and pepper, with a hint of coriander. It has too classic a dry-down and nowadays very generic in masculine perfumes of this type. I find this perfume has nothing oriental about it as I don’t really notice the sandalwood and even less the ebony wood. For me its true classification is Woody Spicy. It doesn’t have great sillage and its longevity is moderate. And I cannot understand why on English Fragrantica so many people found it similar to Chanel’s Egoiste, which I also own. In my judgement they bear no resemblance at all. The strength and expressiveness of Chanel’s sandalwood is enough to tell it apart from this CK.

Contradiction by Calvin Klein. A fragrance that passed without glory through my collection. It was a very metallic citrus fragrance that never quite pleased me. It belonged to the breed of perfumes where I sprayed a lot to finish it quickly. It had a bitter grapefruit touch in the opening and then gave way to the middle notes where pepper and cinnamon appeared as predominant. Calvin Klein has been one of those houses born to break everything but then ended up releasing an extravagant amount of very low quality fragrances, almost like supermarket perfumes. How far behind are the Eternity and the Escapes! Decent, nothing more. I wouldn’t buy it again. Rating: 4/10

Not bad at all, it’s an old fragrance. It projects little and has a weak trail, though the price is reasonable. I would hardly buy it again.

A contradiction from Calvin Klein. It passed without glory in my collection. It was citrusy and metallic, never quite to my taste. I had to spray a lot to finish it quickly. It opened with a bitter grapefruit note, then pepper and cinnamon took over. CK was born to break everything, but later released a host of low-quality scents, almost supermarket standard. How far Eternity and Escapes have come. Correct, nothing more. I would not buy it again. 4/10