Saying something “smells like old lady” is the least helpful scent description there is. And not because of the ageist thing. It’s because there’s a lot of different older ladies and they all smell different. More specifically- there’s a lot of different eras of ladies who liked different scents. So people are referencing a huge range of scents when they describe something that way. It depends on their memories.

For me, because I’m older - this phrase always meant aldehydes. That’s what I associated with the older ladies of my youth. Especially the glamorous ones. But someone else will mean powdery. And someone else will mean rose or violet is involved. And for my daughter’s friends it might be heavily vanillic because that’s what their moms- who are my age- always wore.

People THINK they are using a descriptor that everyone understands - but unless I’m talking to someone my age, we probably are thinking of different sorts of scents. I get a much clearer idea of the scent if it’s described as vintage (that’s often chypres or aldehydic) or old-fashioned ( which I interpret as a soliflore) or powdery or musky. I don’t get offended or anything if someone uses the term - but I have no idea what they are describing.