Don’t forget your mammy: last minute gifts for Mother’s Day

Two statements which appear to be in conflict with one another can both be true at once. Here is a good example – Mother’s Day is nothing but an artificial occasion designed to make you buy stuff . . . and your mother will be upset if you don’t get her something. She’ll say she’s “grand”, that it’s only silly anyway, but she will remember your oversight and bring it up at some point in the future. It might be in accusatory fashion over Christmas dinner, or in a tone that points out (accurately) that you are an ungrateful person and were a challenging child with a slack bladder in front of your new partner.

The story of the time you ran head first into traffic at three, or found and drank half a bottle of Buckfast aged 11, and turned out to be a tiny, mean drunk will undoubtedly come up. Not all mothers are good mothers, but most of them are, so if you have a good mother, you’d best get her something. Or else.

Frankly, she probably deserves it. A beauty-related gift encourages self-appreciation, relaxation and self-care – it is just a kind gesture which facilitates someone you love treating themselves with the care you think they deserve.

Apart from a card (most mammies will insist on a card), a gift does not need to be lavish. Lush More Tea and Sympathy Bath Bomb (€9.95 at Lush) is cute as a button and costs under a tenner. It fizzes in the bath to reveal a little bag of earl grey tea, a relaxing bergamot and neroli fragrance and a burst of little blue cornflowers which float on the cerise pink water.

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Lavish

If, on the other hand, lavish is precisely what you are after, why not buy your mother’s good graces with Sisley L’Orchidée Corail Palette (€82.50 at Brown Thomas), which is a delectable work of art and also a blush? The warm peachy flush it creates on the skin is incomparably lovely and it is simply a joy to behold.

For those who don’t enjoy a lavish make-up gift, fragrance is a safe and universally welcome option. If you’re not sure what sort of fragrance your mother loves, choose an unfussy floral like Chloé Nomade Eau de Toilette (€52 at Debenhams). A touch of oak moss lends it gravity while plum and freesia give it a fresh femininity. It is a floral chypre – not effervescently girlish, and not heavy, making it difficult to dislike.

If home fragrance appeals more to your mammy, Rituals Ritual of Sakura Scented Candle (€19.50 at Rituals Grafton Street and Arnotts) is a lovely blossom floral for the home, and features decent burn time. Take advantage of complimentary engraving at the Grafton Street store on March 30th between 11am and 5pm to seem more like the child your mother always wanted.

Alternatively, buy Irish and opt for a Green Angel White Linen Diffuser (€29.95 at Avoca) for a fresh, clean home fragrance that brings “grand drying” indoors, and is pleasing to almost everyone.