When She Steps Into a Room
September carries a particular kind of magic in Bermuda. It's when everything begins again: school opens, routines reset, and there's this palpable sense of possibility in the air. This year, that feeling is more meaningful for me than ever, because my daughter Marie Sophie, who helped me create our Golden Hour perfume, has just stepped into her first classroom as a history teacher at Bermuda High School for Girls.
I watch her get ready in the mornings now, and I see the ritual unfold. The carefully pressed clothes. The deliberate choices. And always, always, the moment she reaches for her fragrance. Golden Hour. Our fragrance. The one she created with me, and the one that makes her feel ready for anything.
There's a photograph on my phone of Marie Sophie at Saint George's Prep, maybe eight or nine years old. She's small, hopeful, her uniform pressed, her whole future ahead of her. That little girl is still there in this young woman who now stands in front of thirty middle school students between the ages of eleven and fourteen, at that delicate, formative stage when they are learning who they might become. And they look at Marie Sophie, this composed, caring, put-together woman of just twenty-five, and they see someone worth emulating.
When Marie Sophie came to me wanting to create her own fragrance, I understood it wasn't really about the perfume. It was about knowing herself. About claiming her own presence.
We talked about what she wanted to capture. She told me about those moments at Hamilton Harbour after work, that golden time before sunset when the light is liquid and the sky is pink. When she feels most alive. Most herself. She had the vision so clearly: something flirty, elegant, opulent, but never serious. Something that would make her feel beautiful in her own skin. And then she named it. Golden Hour. Perfect.
I composed the fragrance, but she guided me. She knew the notes she wanted to feel, the story she wanted to tell. We worked together, mother and daughter, perfumer and muse, until it was exactly right. Sexy without being serious. Confident without apology.
Now, when she wears Golden Hour before heading to school, it is more than fragrance. It is a kind of armour. A choice. A quiet reminder to herself: I belong here. I am ready. These young girls deserve to see a woman who knows her own worth.
This is what I wish I could tell those girls at BHS: Pay attention to how she holds herself. Notice that she's not perfect. She's human and kind and sometimes figuring it out, but she shows up anyway, fully present, beautifully prepared. That matters. That's the lesson they'll remember far longer than any date in a history textbook.
As a mother, I'm so proud of the woman she's becoming. As a perfumer, I'm honoured that our craft is part of how she moves through the world. I know what it means to follow a dream and find strength along the way. Marie Sophie isn't just teaching history. She's showing these girls what it looks like to care deeply, show up with intention and trust that you have something valuable to give.
September is a season of new beginnings. For Marie Sophie, it marks the start of a career that will touch many lives. Each morning, as she reaches for a fragrance that reminds her who she is, she prepares to give those girls permission to become themselves too.
Golden Hour by Lili Bermuda is a floral-amber fragrance inspired by that magical moment before sunset. Dewy peonies, magnolia, pink freesia and tangerine give way to rose, peach, golden amber, musk and warm cedar. Handcrafted at Stewart Hall in Saint George’s, Bermuda, it is a fragrance that reminds you to show up as your best self.
Discover Golden Hour as a 90 ml Eau de Parfum, Travel Atomizer, Body Lotion, and Refill Kit.
