Perfume for an older lady- ideas?

[takehimjolene]

I'd be really love some ideas on a perfume to buy for my mother (late 70s). She and my Dad are both not in the best of health and I have been tasked with buying perfume for her birthday as a present from Dad (who is not well enough to shop even online). She has asked for perfume, and I think her idea is that wearing something new will make her feel a bit better as she's dealing with some tricky times. However, their poor health and the stress/worry is making them both pretty cranky and they have told me in no uncertain terms that they don't want any involvement in choosing something (I had suggested I get some samples for her to smell) but they really want it to be right. I'm not very familiar with perfumes (I have a go to perfume that I have been wearing for years, but she doesn't like that so clearly going by my taste is not the best idea!).
The only pointers they will give me are:

1. Not a 'heavy' perfume
2. Not cheap shit! (her words, I think she means no dupes, M&S, gift selections etc)
3. Not an 'old lady' perfume

In her younger days Mum always preferred heavier perfumes, but she doesn't want that now. One lighter perfume that I know she did like was Eternity, but she's made it clear that she wants something she's not had before. If anyone can give me any ideas on potentially suitable perfumes to try that would be amazing! I've had a look at a few shops but am struggling to work out where to start amongst the hundreds of options.

I’m an oldie - can’t go too wrong with Jo Malone, especially Lime, Basil and Mandarin.

Liz Earle really nice

Jo Malone

Chanel Gabrielle

Assume this thread was revived by a spammer.

Still, I’d love to know what your DF chose in the end, @takehimjolene!

My mother loves the ORIGINAL Miss Dior … it’s yellow in colour in a mottled bottle and often not on display. Not to be confused with the pink one.
My mum gets lots of compliments on it

THIS THREAD IS NEARLY ONE YEAR OLD!!!

And does that offend you?

It's been a good read anyway! I must have missed it last year.

I notice Kenzo Flower recommended a couple of times. I tried it and really disliked it. It seemed really cheap on me. Perfume is such an individual thing.

Miss Dior - it's been reformulated so it's not "old".

Edit: missed that it was old thread. Didn't RTFT so mea culpa

I recommend Jo Loves.. if you live near London they have a shop you could visit to see what you think. Not sure how you can try them out otherwise.

That's quite heavy

Bulgari Eau Parfume au The Vert is very light and fresh.
Hermes Un Jardin series... sur le Toit is spring fresh; sur le Nil is mango fresh
From the Hermes Exclusifs range, Vetiver Tonka.

I also love the Gallivant perfumes (named after the cities that inspired them): London is gin and cucumber; Naples is neroli and incense; Bukhara is iris; Berlin is a green chypre; Gdansk is amber and quite heavy; Los Angeles is diesel and flowers (and I can still just smell it from this morning). Nick Seward does a sample set and can be bought in person in London I think, but I found them online.

It's a big ask of you though. Good luck!

Sorry everyone, I've only just realised now that the thread seems to have been resurrected that I didn't report back. In the end, after trying many of the suggestions I went with J'Adore. I loved the Jo Malone fragrances I tried but didn't think Mum would recognise them as a 'proper' brand. Mum loved it! Thank you all for your help.

Sadly Dad's health deteriorated a lot before her birthday but he liked to be able to hand her the gift and managed to sign a card. He passed away not long after so this was a much more important decision that I realised. Thanks again everyone who made a suggestion- it helped give a really good list of things to try.

My condolences, @takehimjolene. How lovely that your father was able to give your mother that gift.

Penhaligons.

Femme by Rochas

Deleted as realised this is old

Condolences on losing your dad, and thank you for replying with an update.