The Vine: March 12, 2010
Okay, so you have probably gone over this before but I missed it! I am shall we say “vertically challenged”?!I am under 5 feet tall and in desperate need of a pair of jeans.I use to buy jeans that ran in a 27-inch inseam.Apparently people have gotten taller over the last 10 to 15 years, and now the average inseam for petite jeans is 30 inches…which is way too long for me.
Can you and your readers point me in the right direction of where I could look for jeans in a shorter length?I have looked on line but seems like I mostly come up with skinny, cropped jeans at 27 inches and I don’t want those either. I want regular-looking jeans AND I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for them.I know, I am asking for a lot.
Thanks all,
HATE JEANS
Dear Jeans,
I’m sure we’ve gone over this too, but I’m damned if I can find it in the archives.
I predict that the readers will recommend buying jeans that work for you in every regard but length, and taking them to a tailor. I have to do this on occasion because my inseam is pretty much a 31, so I can buy a 30 and try to wear them low on my hips so they don’t look like high-waters, or I can buy a 32 and have the cuffs dragging through every puddle in Brooklyn.
But as I’ve said before…welcome to mass-market fashion. Sometimes you have to pay a bit extra to hack it so it works for you.
My only other suggestion is to check the kids’ section (I have several clothing items from Old Navy’s boys’ department; kids must have gotten bigger too, because some of the stuff allegedly for 10-year-olds fits me just fine).
Readers?
Sars!
I’ve just discovered that Mudd Original Facial Masque has been discontinued and I am bereft.Seriously.
I’ve been addicted to this product for years and now, it’s gone!I’ve checked Amazon, Overstock, eBay, Bizrate and drugstore.com to no avail — any suggestions from you and the amazing TN readers?
My pores and I thank you!
JF
Dear JF,
Short of haunting the local flea markets, which is where I have the best luck finding discontinued beauty products, I don’t know what to tell you. Let’s see if the readers can suggest a similar product that you can switch to.
Sars,
Long-time Vine reader here who needs the help of the readers in a non-book related matter. I am 36, a lawyer, wife, and mother of two pre-school kids.I eschewed make-up in college (the grunge ’90s) and have continued to avoid it even after beginning a professional career. With a full-time job and two kids, I really have no time for it.
But my skin is aging along with me, and some days I think I really need…something.I wear SPF 15 moisturizer every day, but that’s it.I’d like to add one product — foundation, I guess? — that I can quickly apply on those mornings when my chin is blotchy, or when I have an important meeting and just want an extra layer of confidence, so to speak.Maybe a really good concealer would be enough?
I have zero interest in blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, etc. and don’t want to look like I’m wearing make-up.I’m really hoping there’s another Vine reader out there who can identify with this and who has also found a solution!I’m looking for something simple; doesn’t have to be cheap, but affordable is good; and ideally I would like something that scores low on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.
Thanks,
Will settle for 2 out of 3
Dear Settle,
Many companies make tinted moisturizer with SPF. I use Revlon Age-Defying, but Body Shop also has SPF foundations that are probably more environmentally responsible.
You could also try Neutrogena’s Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer; the tint is barely visible, but does noticeably even you out. My caveat with that one is that, if you have oily or combination skin, higher-SPF Neutrogena moisturizers grease up on you like immediately.
Readers, go for it.
Tags: Ask The Readers health and beauty retail
Will Settle: Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer — light coverage, moisturizer, SPF 20 or 25, and they have a formula for oily skin too, I think. A little pricey but worth it and you can get it at Sephora. It doesn’t make me break out and it doesn’t turn me orange, but it does even things out. I use it by itself for every day, but it also works well with a foundation stick and some powder when I need to put my face on. I even wear it on the weekend, which is the real test for quick and easy.
JF: I have long loved Borghese’s Fango mud mask. Very refreshing and pore-routing. The giant jars of it are pricey, but it’s usually easy enough to find a smaller tube in a GWP sitch or the like. Gettable in department stores or on Amazon.
I have a 26″ inseam, and I hem every single pair of pants (and most of the skirts) that I own. I do like to buy them in “short” lengths, because the less you have to alter, the more likely it is that the garment will look good in terms of drape and proportion. Gap sells jeans in many lengths. I’m plus-sized, and buy almost everything from Lane Bryant, who sells petites, and Old Navy, who sells “short” jeans. I still have to hem.
Hemming is cheap at a tailor — $6-$10. Or, learning to hem isn’t that hard, if you know how to sew at all. And lots of tailors are familiar with hemming jeans and preserving the original hem (with contrasting thread), so they don’t look like they’ve been altered.
Hate,
I work at Eddie Bauer and we sell petite jeans that are normally a 29-inch inseam. I know it’s not as good as 27, but hey! It ain’t 30! I’m with Sars–you may just have to get them hemmed.
Settle,
I recommend Olay Definity Color Correction lotion. It comes in a funky swirly pump-bottle and is like $25 and lasts forever. It comes in 3 tints; I’m super pale so I use the fair/light one and it looks better than just lotion but not make-uppy. I myself am anti-makeup (no time, no interest, don’t want to freak out the boyfriend in the mornings) and Olay has been good to me.
If you want jeans hemmed, most tailors, for an extra $5 or $10, will do that thing where they keep the original hem of the jeans (so it doesn’t look like your mom hemmed them). I hem all my pants at home, but jeans go to the tailor because I cannot wrap my mind around how they do it.
I’m a fan of Clinique foundation, but it can look a bit cakey on my super pale skin. My solution is to wet the sponge a bit before I put it on. It thins it out just enough that I don’t feel like a drag queen, but still covers the splotches.
Dear Jeans,
Being a short person, I totally respect the idea of tailoring pants, but it isn’t always as easy as hemming them. The crotch length can be all wrong as well, not to mention that jeans usually change leg width and can look way wider when hemmed than if you were the height the pants were designed to fit.
Having said that, I always find Levis come in a wider variety of inseam lengths than most any other jeans. Go online to their petite section and the jeans there come in 27 1/2 inch or 29 inseams. The 512’s (boot cut) have a 10 inch rise (as opposed to 10 1/2 in regular sizes). I hope this helps.
Will Settle – I’m a big fan of Stila’s tinted moisturizer. It’s oil free and SPF 15.
http://tinyurl.com/ygh4nbg
It’s a bit costly, but you don’t need to use a lot at a time. So one of these ought to last you a while.
JF: You could try Gone But Not Forgotten. You can get many discontinued products through them. From the website: To initiate a search for a product no longer available, please call (800) 216-7173 between 9am and 4:30pm EST, Monday through Friday.
Settle: You could also add a drop of liquid base to your regular moisturizer to get the same effect as tinted moisturizer.
@settle: This stuff, from Benefit cosmetics, is the shit. Light, easy to blend, and evens my skin out beautifully. Don’t be put off by the colour; I am very pale, and it doesn’t make me orange at all. I don’t get it, but I love it.
http://tinyurl.com/ybe6g9q
Jeans, we have a similar inseam measurement, and I have to add my voice to the chorus of “Tailor!”. There truly is no hope now since everything is cut for people to wear with tall boots (don’t get me started on the length of current T-shirts and The Plight Of The Short Waisted And Also Quite Short On Top Of That Woman!).
Something else to consider if you aren’t attached to wearing a particular label is a site like makeyourownjeans.com which lets you input your measurements and then makes a custom pair of jeans for you. It seems there is a decent variety of styles and colors in the 50-60 dollar range. I haven’t tried them, but have been meaning to for years, so this isn’t a solid personal recommendation, just something I think is a very cool idea. Good luck!
Settle,
Either tinted moisturizer or concealer is a good bet, but I’ve had good luck with powder, too. I tend to go for powder – Revlon, right now – for light coverage both because it goes on quickly and because, while I love the idea of tinted moisturizers, they tend to not match my skin very well. (I am someone who is so pale that Edward Cullen looks at me and goes, “Damn, girl.”)
I usually find it works best if I apply moisturizer, then brush my teeth or something, then powder, since otherwise the powder can be a little drying – I’ve given up on mineral powder for this reason. (“Oh hey, mineral powder!… oh hey, I have no moisture left in my face!”) I will say here, though, that I work from home and thus pretty much only wear makeup
when I want to disguise the sparkle of my vampire-like skinfor special occasions.JF,
At risk of sounding ridiculous, I’ve had good luck with the Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque. That said, all of the masks in the line seem to have an enthusiastic fanbase, but reviews of them tend to vary between “this product turned me into Aphrodite!” and a little “this product ate my baby!” with very little in between. (Well, there is some, “I enjoy walking around with [the mint julep masque, which turns pale green when dried] on and giving my family a start.”)
Hate Jeans,
If all else fails, I’ve heard good things about this tutorial for hemming jeans.
Also, my theory is that mass-market fashion is designed to fit a single woman living out in Valparaiso, Indiana, and everyone else kind of has to make due. Sigh.
Juice Organics has a Light Tint Moisturizer that is SPF 30. I was wearing it when my husband and I made a snap decision to rent bicycles near Santa Monica pier and the sunscreen really worked. I’m very protective of my skin, thus I was very happy about that. Here’s one link to it:
http://www.organicdirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=5226
Thanks for the input. I was really nervous about taking them to a tailor…like Sandy said, I don’t want them to come out looking like my mom did it.
Old Navy seems to make the longest jeans on the face of the planet. Even their “short” jeans are about 6″ too long on me. I can get away with Lane Bryant petite length, after a few washes. And I used to LIVE in Wal-Mart’s Faded Glory (mid-rise, petite length) jeans, which they no longer seem to carry in plus sizes. I’m seriously upset about that. All they have now are those horrible Just My Size grandma jeans. Ew.
@Jeans, same problem here, only my big issue used to be dress pants. For years, all I had for dress clothes were skirts because it was impossible to find dress pants short enough to fit my inseam that still flattered me elsewhere. My solution was learning to hem. Dress pants, jeans, skirts, and now even many shirts and a couple of sweaters — I agree with smartyboots about TPOTSWAAQSOTOTW. I’ve been able to expand my wardrobe considerably now that I’m not stuck with the mass-market sizes.
Aside from hemming, I have also had good luck with the shorter Levis — many times they don’t fit in the store but will shrink enough after 2 or 3 washings that I don’t have to hem them.
Hate Jeans, add me to the “get a tailor” chorus. You can ask for them to keep the original hem on and it won’t look like you did it yourself! I have to get jeans hemmed all the time, and it’s worth the extra $15 to know they fit correctly. Sars, I fall into the 31-inch inseam category myself. The Farah jean by Buffalo comes in odd inseams, and their 31-inch length is perfect for when I want to wear flats, no tailoring needed!
Will Settle, have you considered something like Bare Minerals? I’m pale so tinted moisturizer makes me look like an Oopma Loopa, but Bare Minerals goes on in five minutes and makes my skin look evenly-colored and healthy.
Jeans: I, too, wear a 27″ inseam (unless I’m rocking some very tall shoes). Seconding Levis, who makes petite jeans in short lengths. Also, I recently bought petite DKNY jeans, and from JCPenney there is the Liz&Co brand, both of which I’m able to wear without requiring a trip to the tailor. I buy those as my cheap jeans, but accept that if I want to go designer I must get them hemmed.
To Settle, I was in a similar situation regarding make-up until a few months ago. I definitely wanted an SPF, something that wasn’t harsh, and something that didn’t look like paint, but added that extra coverage/confidence. I went with a foundation/powder combination from Revlon to start. When I realized how much I liked it I bought a slightly more expensive one from MAC.
Sandy: Your tailors do jeans right because they buy the right tricks:
Trick #1: Jeans thread: Spools of this are usually scattered throughout the regular thread in Jo-Ann’s so you have to look closely.
Trick #2: Double headed needles. Exactly what they sound like they add that perfect double line hem. to any jeans.
Hate Jeans: one more thing: if you go the tailoring route, you may have several hemming options (not just old hem/new hem). The woman who does my alterations offers three jeans hem options: install new hem, reattach original hem (looks original from the outside only), and reattach original hem in some magic way so that it looks original even from the inside in case you want to cuff your jeans. Also, make sure you wash new jeans several times before having them hemmed. IMO, Levis in particular tend to shrink upward over time, even when pre-shrunk.
Jeans: Gap petite. Seriously. I have a 28″ inseam and these are basically perfect, maybe a hair shorter than I personally prefer, but that’s better for you. I like the curvy fit (because I am, in fact, curvy) and the dark wash is great for work. They’re also attentive to proportion and zipper issues; I can sit without looking like I have a lady boner. Their friends & family coupon is coming up next weekend (watch slickdeals.net for more info) to get 30% off their $70 almost worth it regular price. Petite sizes are online only but at least you can return their stuff to the store without problems (I’m glaring at you, Victoria’s Secret). Best of luck!
@ Settle:
I’m 36 and I have fair, somewhat sensitive skin. I’ve been pretty pleased with “Olay Total Effects UV Moisturizer + Touch of Foundation”. It’s relatively inexpensive, I can pick it up when I’m grocery shopping, and it doesn’t make me break out or give me a rash around my eyes like most of the more expensive and/or “natural” products that I’ve tried. I see that it gets a mediocre score on the Safety Database (I never knew that such a thing existed — neat!). But I guess it would qualify for 2 out of 3.
Settle:
Clinique tinted moisturizer comes with an SPF. I find it sufficient for my non-makeup wearing face. If you want something a bit more, they make something called Almost Makeup, which is a slightly heavier version.
Settle: I’m with you on the no-time-for-makeup front. I use Bare Minerals foundation on those days when I need a little cover-up, and it’s super-fast. I just put my moisturizer on, let it soak in while I’m brushing my teeth, give my face a few quick swipes with the brush, and dust off any excess with my fingers. Fifteen seconds, max. Ten if there’s still enough powder left in the brush from last time.
Oh, the jeans/trousers dilemma. I myself am an orangutan and have long arms and legs. The problem with my inseam is that it’s just a tad short for most “tall” pants but too long for many “regulars” (32″ w/flats, 33.5 w/heels). I usually have to have them taken up by one stinking hem length. I can deal with that though. My bigger problem is finding shirts with long enough sleeves but a short enough torso (smartyboots, I hear you!!). I’m tired of having naked wrists and a bunched-up middle.
1. Mystery Amanda – you are hilarious.
2. Settle: I am the same age as you and tooootally understand. I have the same dilemma, but have the answer. Go to Target, immediately, and buy this product: Boots No7 True Identity Foundation. Light. $12. It is awesome, and don’t let the foundation in the name scare you – it’s sheer and basically a very light primer but evens everything out. Plus no drying, and no oil.
Oh, and you should probably just buy one of those Burts Bees lip tints while you’re at it.
Settle, try Clinique’s Almost Powder makeup. It’s been a life-saver for me. It’s lightweight, so you’ll never feel like you’re wearing makeup and the color I wear (I’m very pale) is a perfect match for my skintone, but smooths out the pink.
I have tried the mineral makeups but haven’t liked them; the Clinique is now an essential part of my morning routine.
@HATE JEANS: I’ll chime in on the junior’s dept jeans. I’m 5’3″ and recently found a pair of Mudd Jeans at Ross that’s PERFECT, exactly the right length, love the fabric, love the fit, and for less than $20 I’m still doing the happy dance. My only gripe is I looked online and found a pair of the same brand, same size, slightly different style, and it absolutely didn’t fit, so their sizes may be weird. But if you can try before you buy, they sure worked for me.)
@2 out of 3: I’m also a low-makeup person, and I wear Mary Kay tinted moisturizer with SPF-15, and top it with Maybeline Powder Foundation with SPF-15. Takes about two minutes, and feels very light.
I second, third, and fourth recommend Bare Minerals. Its not very pricey and lasts forever if you’re not one to use it everyday! It really feels like you’re not wearing make up! On extra dry skin, it will show flakes and patches. And for a little extra coverage, their Bisque with the concealer brush removes all signs of any blemish! I have a red spot on the side of my nose from my glasses and it covered that right up!
@Jeans: I’m not sure where you live but if you have Yelp look there for a good tailor. Make sure in the reviews people talk about them doing jeans well. If you take it in and say you want the original cuff/original hem and they look at you funny, run away.
If you don’t have Yelp but you do have a Nordstrom go to their ladies dept. and ask. Nordstrom always has good tailors.
Settle, I second Hellcat’s suggestion – Benefit’s Some Kind-a-Gorgeous is the bomb! Like you I have an aversion to wearing makeup (not to buying it though … which probably says something deeply disturbing about me), but every once in a while you want to give yourself a little subtle boost in the fabulousness department. Personally I hate tinted moisturizer, because I don’t want to wear extra color every day, no matter how sheer. Also, in my experience the color in tinted lotion always rubs off on my shirt collars and sleeves somehow and that really detracts from the overall effect of no makeup.
Jeans, I’m also barely 5″, and like a lot of other people have suggested, I get all my jeans hemmed at the dry cleaner near my house. She has this fabulous, but completely mysterious, technique for preserving the original hem. One time when I was getting a pedicure, the woman doing my toes became mesmerized by the hem job and spent about 5 minutes examining it in detail. She even called over all the other women working in the salon to see my pants. It was hilarious.
OK, I’ve recommended this site to everyone I know and I think I found it here originally, but seriously, check out makeyourownjeans.com.
You choose the denim you like, and the rise and cut (boot cut/skinny/flare/etc.) and then give them all your measurements and in a few weeks, for $60 including shipping you get a custom made pair of jeans that fit perfectly. I’m only 4’10 and a little curvy, and they’re the best-fitting jeans I’ve ever worn.
Other than that, I find that the petite length Old Navy jeans in either the Sweetheart or Diva fit work pretty well. The Divas are very low-rise, but they look good.
Dear Will Settle,
Man, I hate wearing anything tinted, anything with a “touch” of color, any foundations, liquid makeup of any sort (I’m 43 and have never worn foundation/base at any time except when on stage.) but for those times I need to be a little more put together than just moisturizer I wear smashbox photo finish over the Boots moisturizer (Yay, Target!). It feels like silk on your skin and it takes shine away and you look almost flawless.
I just checked the smashbox website and now there is a photo finish with SPF 15 and some anti-aging whozeewhatsit. I may have to buy.
Jeans, another vote for shopping in the junior’s department… I’m taller, but used to work with a tiny lady who said she bought *all* her clothes in the kid’s department. She saved a lot of money actually and her clothes were as cute as anything (in a grown-up way, not an applique-teddy-bear way.)
For that matter, I was friends some years ago with a gen-u-wine fashion designer with fabulous taste, and she told me to head for juniors as well. The biggest sizes fit me fine, and the styles/cuts were much more current than the fugly stuff I was wearing from Misses.
Not sure if the Environmental Working Group safety database is designed to enhance the safety of cosmetic USER, or everyone, by to protect the environment. However I find that Body Shop products contain a lot of chemicals that you might want to avoid for your own health reasons (such as parabens).
After reading these comments, I’m now concerned about my non-original-hem hemmed jeans. I do my hems myself, 2 lines of thread (OMG, I can’t believe I never heard about double-headed needles before, though — I’m on my way to the fabric store right now), thread color depending on my mood and whether the jeans are “nice” (= for work) or “weekend.” My hems are even but definitely not original, but I never worried about people judging my non-original hems before. Everybody can see that I’m short, so I figured anyone who noticed the hems would also understand that I had to do something to avoid having the bottoms of my pants torn off by rubbing on the ground all day.
Apparently, I have been wrong?
@Jeans: if you like/can deal with the Land’s End aesthetic, landsend.com allows you to specify an inseam length when ordering pants; they will tailor the pants for you before they ever arrive at your door. The drop-down menu goes all the way down to a 26-inch inseam–as a lady with laughably short arms and legs, I can say that discovering that has been a godsend.
Settle: I hate makeup and am really picky about the chemicals in my cosmetics too. I forget what kind I have because the case broke and I now have it dumped into an Altoids tin, but packed powder mineral makeup is definitely the way to go for you. I use the SkinDeep database too, and you can definitely find lots of kinds that rate low and work well. You can put it on with a damp sponge for a heavier makeup kind of occasion, or just dry for light daily coverage. I have even just gotten a little on the end of my pinky and used it as coverup on an errant zit or dark circle. It’s pretty much the most versatile thing ever. My makeup routine is wash, lotion, dry swipe of mineral makeup, light coat of mascara, done.
Old Navy Petites FTW! You can only buy them online, but they offer free exchange shipping (that is, you only pay for shipping once, even if you have to get a different size.) I don’t know what their inseam length is off the top of my head, but the proportions would be better for you even if you do need an inch or two hemmed, still. FYI: I normally wear a 4 or 6 in their non-petite jeans, but needed an 8 in the petites. Also they were $20. They also have what they call “khakis” in petites too–really just super soft cotton business casual pants. Those sizes don’t run as big: I needed only one size up, if that, from my non petite ON size.
Pores, I second the Queen Helene Mint mask recommendation. They also have a mud formulation available, but if it’s anything like the Mint one, you’re golden.
Plus, they’re all of $2-3 bucks for a HUGE tube — worth a shot, no?
Settle – I use Origins Nude and Improved – has SPF 15, is sheer and light, but conceals a lot of flaws. It’s my favourite foundation I’ve come across thus far.
Settle, I could have written your letter a year ago: I just turned 30, and suddenly I occasionally feel the need to even out my skin tone, though I have otherwise been a no-makeup girl for my entire life.
I use Clinique’s tinted moisturizer, plus their “Quick Corrector” under my eyes when I look especially tired in the morning. I usually top with the slightest touch of their loose powder, which I find to be less cakey and makeupy than regular pressed powder. The whole thing takes me less than 3 minutes, and I don’t look like I’m wearing makeup, I just look more polished and a little less tired than I have been lately.
Settle: Definitely on the pricier end of things, but the Lancome Aqua Fusion Tiente sounds like what you’re looking for. (http://www.lancome-usa.com/makeup/tinted-moisturizers/aqua-fusion-teinte.htm) I don’t wear a lot of makeup but I use this every day. It’s the only ‘must-have’ in my cosmetic drawer and if they ever discontinued it I would be heartbroken.
I wear it as both my daily moisturizer/sun protection and as a foundation and it is wonderful – doesn’t feel like makeup at all really, just like any other moisturizer. But it has kind of a matte finish that that helps smooth my skin tone and cover up the occasional blemish. I’m more than willing to pay the $$, especially considering I don’t need to use a lot and one bottle lasts me over 6 months. It’s all I need – I don’t use another foundation, concealer, or powder with it. Simple and low maintenance, just like me (heh).
Before shelling out the cash, check it out at the Lancome cosmetic counter in your local department store. They’ve been generous with samples in the past when I’ve asked.
I couldn’t find it in the database, and now you have me wondering.
@Dorine: Oh, you’re fine, just fine. You’re hearing this from a gal who found that her “tall” jeans were a bit too tall, and solved that by simply tucking them under, like a reverse cuff. Then, she continually re-tucks them all day, because she is too lazy and cheap to hem and the masking tape washed off after the first trip to the laundry.
Did I said “fugly” in that previous comment? Ahem. ‘Nuff said.
Hate: I wear a 28″ inseam and also hate paying to tailor. I’ve bought jeans at Delias.com. They have 26″ and 28″ inseams. Only skinny jeans are available in 26″. I don’t know if you wear them. Flare and bootcut jeans are available with a 28″ inseam. Hope this helps.
Settle here – you gals are awesome! So many great ideas; and I am also glad to know I have so many kindred sprits out there. I have a long list of things to try; the only problem will be deciding what to try first! But I have a lot more confidence now that the product I’m looking for is actually out there.
Hate Jeans,
Try LandsEnd.com — for jeans you can usually have a choice of a few different lengths per size. For some of their other pants you can specify the hem length to the quarter inch. I love this option — I need a 33 inch inseam and regulars are often 32″, and talls are over 34″ so it’s awesome to be able to order a 33 and they do a great job with the hemming.
They’ve added a modern fit (they call it Fit 1) so you can get jeans/pants there that won’t look like total “mom jeans”. Could be worth a look — good luck.
JF – there’s a product called Aztec Secret http://www.calantilles.com/Products/prod18.html that you can mix up into a face mask which is very similar to Mudd Mask. It’s a powder you mix with water – the container lasts forever.
Jeans – I have a 36″ inseam, maybe we can work out some kind of arrangement?
Settle,
I know you said you hate makeup and don’t want to look like you are wearing any. BUT, building on the excellent advice above is this – when you wear only foundation or tinted moisturizer, any natural color in your cheeks gets hidden along with your flaws and you look very blah.
Besides foundation and powder, the only thing I wear is a creme blush from Maybellene. It gives just a touch of color to the cheeks, so you don’t look like you are all one color, and it looks MUCH more natural (and lasts longer) than powder blush (which never blends). Just blend a little over the apple of your cheeks to get back the natural color that is hidden by the foundation. My little tub has lasted months, and it stays on all day. Oh, and a second on the tinted lip balm.
Good luck!