If she likes the Colt .380's, and they work for her, there's nothing wrong with that. Make sure she picks the gun SHE wants, not what someone else thinks is best for her.
My wife and I have been trying to find a defensive gun for her quite awhile and have learned a lot along the way. In addition to making sure the gun's size fits her hand , make sure she can comfortably work the action and the controls. My wife liked the size of the Kahr P9, but could not reliably work the slide. She had the same problem with all the Glocks we tried. J-frame S&W revolvers are often reccomend for women because of their size, but my wife had problems pulling the DA trigger through. It took ALL of her hand strength and she could only do it for 2 or 3 pulls in a row.
What did work for her included:
Sig 239 in 9mm
Makarov (She doesn't like it much, but she can run it just fine)
S&W Model 10 .38 (The trigger geometry is different then the J frames so that wasn't a problem. It also fits her hand very well).
Amazingly enough, one of her favorites turned out to be my CZ-75 9mm. I thought it would be too big for her, but she handles it fine and doesn't have any problems working the action or the controls.
Have her keep trying until she finds what she likes. If she isn't comfortable with it, and it isn't fun to shoot, she won't practice with it and will never develop confidence in it our her ability to use it.