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Coffee Break: A Kiss of Bliss

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A Kiss of Bliss perfume bottle

Nordstrom has 15% off on fragrances right now — so it's a great time to stock up on any old or new favorites, for you or a loved one. (Mother's Day is coming!)

My latest perfume find is Penhaligon's A Kiss of Bliss, part of a sampler set that I bought a year ago or so. I, admittedly, tend to like darker, more masculine scents. My perfumes tend to have a lot of vetiver, sandalwood, bergamot, patchouli, and pink pepper — meaning that I am set for winter, but I my summer perfumes are lacking.

This one does have bergamot, musk, and patchouli but the general vibe is lighter, fresher — as they describe it, it is “borne from sunny days to have you dancing all night long.” Alrighty then!

I'm also a fan of Debaser for spring/summer, particularly the middle notes of fig — so lovely, and also part of the sale.

A Kiss of Bliss is normally $300, but is 15% off through May 11 so it comes down to $255. Nice.

(As a reminder, I tend to like more masculine scents like vetiver, sandalwood, jasmine — I've really enjoyed discovery sets from brands like Penhaligon's, Juliette has a Gun, DS & Durga, and Kilian Paris in recent years. Last fall I wore a lot of this Replica scent as well as some vetiver-forward scents like the ones from Le Labo and Creed. In springtime I like Debaser and A Kiss of Bliss, as well as this really powdery special edition Jo Malone scent (surprising for me!). Year-round, I seem to always reach for Yasmine by Penhaligon.)

Sales of note for 5/27/25:

88 Comments

  1. The older I get the more I find perfumes are just aggressive and unpleasant. Combine that with some research into the chemicals they typically contain and I have a visceral reaction to them. (I know there are some natural perfumes that are not toxic).

        1. No really, thank you, it was so insightful. We would never know that some people don’t like perfume unless there was an announcement every time the topic comes up. You’re doing everyone a great service.

          1. LOL the amount of time you took to write out this snarky comment. I am here for this level of pettiness.

    2. As a trained perfumer I need to step on here. First of all, everything is a chemical, including natural fragrance compounds. Fragrances being natural doesn’t mean they’re less allergenic – look at how many people have hay fever from natural pollens and dust and grasses. You wouldn’t call these things “toxic.”

      There is toxicity in natural ingredients too. Look at stories of how natural bergamot harvesting turns the skin of the harvesters black.

      Aromachemicals are highly regulated in Europe so most perfumers follow those regulations because they want to be able to sell their products internationally. Most aromachemicals ate derived from analyzing natural fragrance compounds and breaking them into their component parts.

      I have great respect for natural perfumers like Hiram Green and Mandy Aftel, and I own fragrances from both houses, but I would make no claims as to whether they are “better for me” than the fragrances I own from brands that don’t claim to be natural perfumers.

      2. Counting down to some Instagram educated poster to come argue with you about chemicals…
        All joking aside, thank you for trying to educate people – the ‘I could never put chemicals on my skin!’ people drive me bonkers. Water is chemicals people….

        1. She didn’t say all chemicals are bad; she said the chemicals in perfumes are bad. I don’t know enough about perfume to have an informed opinion on the second part, but they’re very different statements. I’m not sure why everyone thinks “water is a chemical!” is a defense to what OP said.

      3. “Everything is a chemical” is so trite. It’s 100% okay to be annoyed with chemists who went way out of their way to invent fragrance enhancers that never before existed and that afflict people who were completely fine for all of human history up until that moment.

          2. Everyone knows about atoms and elements, I promise. We also know about equivocation and sophistry.

      4. Oh god, the “everything is a chemical” responder. People use “chemicals” as shorthand for “endocrine disrupters” and “irritants” and other negative qualities. You know this.

          1. +1000 – “people” may use it as shorthand for something that they fear or do not understand or can’t pronounce, but they shouldn’t.

          2. Do you work for the industry or something? It’s asinine to act as though there are no harmful chemicals in our environments. We’re positively awash in them and much more intense regulation is desperately needed.

          3. Anon at 3:49 – you’re not wrong, there are definitely compounds that need to be investigated and regulated. But you’re kidding yourself if stopping wearing perfume insulates you. We don’t even know that it’s anything in any specific perfume that’s a problem. It must be so exhausting jumping to conclusions all the time…

        2. No, they don’t. People use “chemicals” to mean anything that they don’t understand to spread pseudoscience and fear.

          1. Disagree. I work adjacent to environmental health research (not my main specialty) and the “chemicals” researchers are most concerned with in consumer products are typically flame ret@rdants, phthalates, parabens, certain pesticides, and a few other specific ones (arsenic in drinking water, for example). It’s in no way pseudoscience and only someone with very little knowledge in this area would claim that.

          2. @4:05, you’re correct that researchers mean those things. The mom in my local FB group with lip filler who’s pushing some kind of water cleanse does not mean those things.

          3. It’s not just fear mongering, it’s also marketing. So-called Clean Beauty is pretty much a scam.

    3. you’re right I prefer the older perfume ingredients like ambergis and castoreum… i’ll wait here while you google

    4. Yep. And I’ve never, ever been thankful someone else was wearing one. They are like watching videos on your phone with no earbuds in public—just subjecting everyone around you to your own thing for no reason. Buy a candle and keep the smells at home.

      1. Oooh I love getting a whiff of someone’s perfume or cologne as they walk by. It’s nice.

        2. Our busboy’s cologne was so nice the other night I almost said something to him! (He was a grown man and this was a business dinner, so I couldn’t find the moment. I would have if it had been a personal meal!) I so enjoy a little moment of fragrance in a day of routine smells.

      2. I get that some people
        are genuinely allergic or have real migraines as a result of scent. But I think we have also gotten to a point where people are just annoyed by being in a world with others. Life is full
        of sounds and smells. Deal with it.

        3. Conversely, I think the world has gotten to a point where basic consideration of others is not even just an afterthought, but something many work against. It’s kind of a toddler move and part of our me-me-me culture – someone says “hey your perfume is giving me a migraine, could I ask you not to wear it at work?” and you respond with “you can’t make me stop wearing it!”

          1. Literally not a single person has said that, if asked by someone who struggles with fragrance, they would insist on continuing to wear it. Not one!

          2. I agree it’s like being as inconsiderate as possible is a badge of pride. People relish in the harm they cause others.

        4. Why do you think you’re entitled to hurt others? I’m guessing you take this into other areas of your life like fast fashion and the river store too though.

          1. What does hurting others have to do with it. There is a difference between finding something annoying and being hurt by it. If you are one of the people who genuinely suffers, that’s genuinely unfortunate and you can ask people around you to take that into account. I once shared an office with someone who was very sensitive to smell and she said that some desk wipes I used gave her a headache. I never used them again except for when she was on vacation for a week and I knew I had 6 days to have the smell dissipate. She would regularly bring salmon to microwave at work for lunch and as gross as that smell was, it didn’t make me actually sick and I didn’t think it was my place to tell her what to eat.

            But while it is reasonable to ask a coworker or a loved one to not do something that is physically bothering you, it is unreasonable to expect perfect strangers to forgo perfume, which makes them happy, because they may walk by you and cause you to be annoyed. If your reaction is severe enough that this is a real problem, I think you have to figure out a solution that works for you akin to people who are cautious with peanut allergies. We do not ban all people from eating peanuts. The point is only that we have confused wants with needs and preferences with actual requirements.

          2. It makes some people happy to be naked, but we don’t let them do it in the office. And you absolutely could’ve asked her not to microwave salmon. That is a very, very common ask in an office, to the point that almost every office I’ve worked in has had a sign next to the microwave to that effect.

      3. +1. It’s odd to me that people are so comfortable with causing migraines and asthma attacks in other people for something SO optional.

          2. You don’t have to imagine it – it’s your reality! Gotta not give yourself away in your responses.

        2. Perfume has been around since the beginning of time. It’s only in modern times that a generation feels the entire world must bow to their personal preferences.

          Except for laundry scent booster beads, which I hate with the fire of a thousand suns (live example of nose blindness) you just have to accept that people are going to smell like something.

          1. Perfume made a lot of sense before indoor plumbing existed. It’s a waste of money now.

          2. I’m honestly okay with the perfumes that have been around since the beginning of time.

            It’s the laundry scent booster bead scents and other incredibly cheap modern scents that are more of a scourge.

    5. Sometimes I appreciate someone’s perfume or other fragranced product. A lot of the time it’s too much or not that nice. I think some people just get nose blind and then don’t realize how unpleasant their over-application of fragranced product is to everyone else.

      I also have a number of people in my life who sometimes get headaches or asthma attacks from fragranced products. I avoid fragranced products as much as possible and appreciate that now that I’ve dropped fragranced products for the most part I can smell scents to which I used to be nose blind.

        1. Unpleasant to anyone is enough of an argument to not waste money on something like this…

          1. Idk I don’t mind uptight people finding it unpleasant if I choose to smell vaguely of Earl grey tea instead of sweat.

      1. Umm grass is a well known allergen for some people. How can you be so harmful and cruel to suggest touching it.

    7. This is my favorite thread ever on this site. So many hurt butts. Thanks for all the laughs!

  2. A great perfume that is part of the Nordstrom sale right now:

    Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Forte Bosca Vanilla.

    https://www.nordstrom.com/s/7933220?size=4.2%20oz

    The Aqua Allegoria line is composed of lighter style scents, including the iconic Pampelune.

    This one is a vanilla that is not cloying. It starts out with a hint of orange (who doesn’t love a creamsicle?) but it’s not sweet. It’s a very wearable year round perfume. It dries down to a subtle good grooming kind of scent that doesn’t create a huge cloud of fragrance.

    I get compliments on it all the time, but no one really picks up on it unless they come in for a hug, which is about how much sillage I want.

    3. I’m unfamiliar with the Allegoria line, but I’ll toss in a rec for another Guerlain perfume that reads as light: Mon Guerlain. I get headaches and stomachaches from the vast majority of perfumes out there, but not with this one.

  3. Any tips for getting rid of SI joint pain? It comes every 6ish months. I do acupuncture, massage, stretching, arnica cream, massage gun…but boy, is it painful!

    1. Have you gone to physical therapy? I wonder if there is some muscle imbalance or weakness that causes this to happen recurrently. Perhaps exercises to strengthen and then maintaining that strength would help.

    2. PT was necessary for me. It identified a gait problem that was causing the SI.

    3. Oh god I had the worst SI pro me s when pregnant. I got some relief from physical therapy & strength exercises but you have all of my sympathies!

    4. I asked a few weeks ago (here) about recurring intermittent problems like this (but with my psoas) and was told There Must Be Something Wrong Because This Isn’t a Thing. It’s been 13 years for me, off and on, since the problems started. I just end up doing a lot of PT, and trying to make minor permanent adjustments to posture, habits, and more that help. A lot of things can affect this area, from all over the body – I even just read that fibroids can cause hip pain. Myofascial release is what works best for my issues when I’m in pain. You might also try Voltaren – it’s a topical NSAID that used to be prescription only for arthritis.

      The pain for me is so intermittent I totally forget about products that I’ve bought — one of the things I did buy was the “pelvic clock” which might be of interest to you.
      https://www.pelvicclock.com/sacroiliac-dysfunction-exercises

    5. PT. And you have to keep doing your stretches and exercises….. forever! As they should teach you.

  4. I got Botox for the first time last week and don’t love it. It feels like my forehead is heavy and like I’m constantly aware that I have a forehead. It looks great though. They said 2 weeks for the full effects — is this just going to get worse? Am I stuck feeling like this until it wears off in 2-3 months?

    1. That heavy feeling will go away in another couple weeks, in my experience. I really dislike getting Botox for that reason, but by the time my next appointment rolls around, I get it again because I forgot how much I dislike the initial feeling.

    2. I have always wondered if that is an effect and now I am more convinced this is not for me. I would benefit from it, but that would be like torture for me

    3. it tends to go away and you forget abou tit. however, I would like to step in and share with the group that I recently got botox in what is essentially half an inch below each side of my mouth. My injector suggested it because I guess there’s a muscle there which can kind of pull the sides of your mouth down. She did NOT mention to me that I would struggle to drink out of a straw (weird, but nbd) and very importantly, struggle to maintain any kind of poker face when something amuses me. I am suddenly smiling at the most unusual moments. It is so bizarre.

    4. I don’t get botox anymore but I used to, just for the elevens. I LOVED that feeling in my forehead. I called it a peaceful feeling. Like if you can’t frown at your screen all afternoon, you just kind of feel better. It became the main attraction of Botox for me, above the cosmetic benefit.

      But I can get how everyone perceives that feeling differently.

  5. Does anyone do exercises (or anything) that they feel help with turkey neck? My biggest problem right now is the underside of my jaw, just before my chin and neck meet — I hate the way it looks when I breathe in.

    1. I don’t think an exercise will help, because that’s not muscle, it’s just skin. I think the ROC roll-on retinol helps some with the crepey-ness though.

    2. Is it aging or allergies? Mine is caused by allergies. I have a problem with pollen and react to lots of fruits and vegetables. When I take enough Allegra my turkey neck disappears. Allergy doctor confirmed it’s allergies.

  6. Suggestions for dealing with going grey as a brunette.

    Im looking for some hair dye and deep conditioner recommendations.

    I’m a single parent who is alone with the children all but one weekend a month. My roots are horrendous and I need something beyond the L’Oréal spray can (which is great but leaves my hair dry and brittle).

    I can not use Madison Reed. Used it once and it gave me Darth Vader helmet hair plus half my hair fell out. What are some good options that won’t result in me having a grey line all the time?

    As far as condition, my hair gets very dry. I’m mid 40s now and I run 3x a week. My hair is brittle from the damage caused by Madison Reed dye. My regular salon selectives deep conditioner is not available right now and I’ve run out.

    1. Not sure if this will work for you, but I’m a brunette, over 60 but with only a moderate amount of gray. Until a couple of years ago I was almost the only woman I know who didn’t dye my hair – but then after seeing a picture of me under bright llights where the gray seemed super-prominent I started using a gloss with color and I really like it. I use the DP Hue gloss in medium brown (available at ULTA or from Amazon). It covers the gray well, and is not at all monochromatic; the strands that were more gray before the application are a bit lighter and really just look like highlights. I feel I am not explaining it very well but I’m happy with it, and have asked a couple of trusted friends for honest opinions and they both swore it looks good.

      It is temporary color and lasts about two weeks, and since it washes out over time there are no roots showing (just more gray as the color fades). It doesn’t smell like hair dye. You apply it after shampooing, leave in for up to 20 minutes and rinse. It also has an excellent conditioning effect. It’s about $35 a bottle, so maybe worth a try for you?

      1. Sounds absolutely wonderful. The description on Amazon says each bottle has 10-12 applications. That is so affordable if true. I’ve ordered a bottle to try it. Thank you!

        1. I have long, thick hair, down to my bra band until a recent hair cut, and I would say I get maybe 5 applications out of a bottle, but YMMV. I use a really heavy hand at the top of my forehead and the temples because that’s where most of my gray seems to be, or at least where it shows.

    2. I finally gave up and am embracing my grays. It’s always going to be high maintenance covering them, and there’s always going to be regrowth showing if you’re more than a few days out from the last dye job.

      Sorry! That’s where I am right now after years of trying.

    3. I just tried the Clairol ColorStrong dye with Pantene leave-in/wash out intensive conditioner and am happy with both. Be sure to pick a color a few shades lighter than what you want or at least a shade or two. I’m happy with the results.

    4. fellow brunette – the biggest thing I’ve found to help is doing my eyebrows, i absolutely need my eyebrows to frame my face. i dye those with beard dye for men.

      try v05 hot oil for deep conditioner — cheap and it served me well when i was on swimteam. I still use it every so often because it only takes a minute.

      I was looking at the Color WOW product on amazon a while ago – curious if anyone has experience with that?

    5. For deep conditioner, I like the TJ shea butter hair mask. I use just a bit as a conditioner and like my hair after. It’s cheap and a little goes a long way so it lasts.

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