Bliss Soho

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After garnering much buzz following its 1996 opening, the “Blissage” rub-downs and glow-inducing facials at esthetician-turned-entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore’s 11,000-square-foot flagship spa remain among the city’s best—and most sought-after. It’s wise to book in advance—months if possible—especially if you require a coveted evening slot. After five, sebum-rife, knotted-up twenty- and thirty-somethings (clients skew younger than at the two uptown branches) retreat here from the uptown grind, looking to unwind before hitting the bars and bistros that are conveniently located within stumbling distance of Bliss’s cocoon-like, heated treatment tables. Half of the crowd is here with a “Blissertificate,” prepped for the owner’s tongue-in-cheek humor, which shows up everywhere from the grass-tiled showers to the witty spa menu (witness the anti-wrinkle Super Sleeping Peel and toning Shrink Wrap). Many in Bliss’s twelve-room facial corridor opt for the Triple Oxygen Facial, a Kilgore classic, during which skin is bombarded with the breakout-combating, cell growth-stimulating molecule in multiple forms. Downstairs in the chatty nail-care room, clients, sipping white wine and grazing from trays of cheese and mini oatmeal cookies, sink feet into silver basins filled with warm stones, milk, and rose petals for the hour-long Rosy Toes pedicure. — Rose Reis

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Best of New York Awards

• Best of New York: Best Relaxation Treatment (2003)
• Best of New York; Best Lotions & Soaps (2002)