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I'm thinking Giorgio Armani's Sensi or Sensi White notes. The sensi is lovely and fresh and mellows to a lovely vanilla/amber base. Or maybe Cerruti 1881. A lovely 'freshly laundered linen scent'.

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Quote: Originally Posted by vezerne How about the real "gift" being something you know she'd like, with a little sample size or two of scent tied into the bow, or otherwise presented in an ancillary fashion? I'm loving this idea!
My mother's favorites are No. 22, Youth Dew and the occasional blast of Sortilege.
I don't even try to add to her I...but if I was that bold I'd probably go the sample route. and choose the most 1950s sounding names I could find. My second option would be fo go with some of the scented powders. With the hot weather arriving soon she would probably experiment with those.

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The answer is simple (okay, everybody say it with me now): Get her a bouquet of samples. For mainstream scents, I usually send people to Scent Monkey (don't know if they do commerce in Canada). At $3 per sample, you can take a shotgun approach to hitting on a fragrance she may like. In general, perhaps look for scents in their summer or "sheer" formulations.
For niche sampling, check out The Perfume Shoppe. They're located in Canada.
At least you'll surprise her. And, if out of a half dozen samples or more she still doesn't like perfumes, then you know you've done all you can. There is a chance, though, with samples sitting around, she'll try them a couple times and may begin to develop a sense of fragrance. Then, you can get her a bottle of something she really likes at a later occasion, and you won't have wasted your money.

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I agree you can't force fragrance on anyone. That said, one great light pleasing scent comes to mind--O' D'Lancome. It should be available in most dept. stores. Maybe a sample could be obtained from an SA. Purplebird taught me to bring my own glass vials and spray directly into them (I thought I needed a funnel). Most places don't mind it's only a few sprays and that's what testers are for.
O D'Lancome needs an hour to settle. The citrus calms and a pleasant light musk wafts when you least expect it. Great for people who hate in your face frags.

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Quote: Originally Posted by kumquat ... Purplebird taught me to bring my own glass vials and spray directly into them (I thought I needed a funnel). Most places don't mind it's only a few sprays and that's what testers are for..... Ooooohhh! What a great idea! Thanks!!

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In my opinion, better choice is a thing she loves, a book, flowers, a day in SPA, etc.
But, if you want really a perfume for her, you can gift one, or many, little decants as she trying as she likes.
Camélia Chinois MPG?
CK1?
Tommy girl?
Eau d'Hadrien?
Eau Impériale Guerlain?

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My mom hates perfume too.
All that she could wear (allergies) when she got older was Calyx by Prescriptives.
However I'm sure that there are some 'mom's' out there, that hate this...

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Giving a gift of something the recipient dislikes isn't much of a gift.

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I so disagree with people who think you shouldn 't give her perfume. Perfume is one of the most special gift anyone can give!
I don 't think your mom litteraly hates perfume. she just needs to discover an alternative that works for her and reconciles her with perfumes.
My mom is a very rare french woman who also hates perfumes. She 's always been very sensitive to scents and odors, she always smells things normal people can 't. She also looks nothing like me, I took everything from my argentinean father, I wear Feminite du Bois, the kind of fragrance only brunettes with olive skin can wear easily.
Last year I bought her L 'Instant de Guerlain, this is the only perfume I ever gave her she loves and wears. This year I 'm getting her the body cream.
I had a couple of friends buy L 'Instant for their moms too and they couldn 't thank me enough because this was a success perfume gift. Women 45+ seem to love this fragrance very much, it 's elegant, non-invasive, not girly yet modern and not "old".

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I should mention that I didn't begin wearing fragrances until near the age of 50. Up until then I didn't think I liked perfumes either. Now look at me!!!!! I'm making up for lost time in a big, big way. I have found that I do not like mainstream fragrances almost universally, which explains why I never liked what I smelled in department stores. Now that I've discovered the niche and classic houses, I'm rolling in the stuff.