Mother has to reflect about a perfume holder (8)
I believe the answer is:
pomander
'perfume holder' is the definition.
'pomander' can be an answer for 'perfume' (perfumed ball). I'm unsure of the 'holder' bit.
'mother has to reflect about a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'mother' could be 'ma' (ma can mean mother) and 'ma' is located in the answer.
'reflect' could be 'ponder' (synonyms) and 'ponder' is present in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pomander that I've seen before include "fragrant thing" , "Ball of perfume" , "Ball of perfumes" , "source of perfume" , "A ball or of sweet-smelling substances" .)