Jeans come in a bewildering array of nuanced cuts, colors and fabrics. The hunt for a pair can take some would-be buyers an entire day.

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Call it the jeans conundrum. You want a new pair that doesn't label you as over the hill, but you want them to reach over your butt.

So you head out to a department store where you find a wall of jeans in styles, washes and fits that require a denim dictionary and a week of trying-on time.

Gap alone has 15 blue-denim colors with sometimes perplexing names, including "destructed fade," "light authentic" and "sandblasted authentic" (not to be confused with "sanded authentic").

J.C. Penney offers a helpful guide on its catalog Web site, showing you how to choose one of six styles combined with one of three cuts and one of three rises.

The search for a stylish, properly fitting pair of jeans can take a woman an entire day as she pulls on dozens of pairs, leaving behind a pile of low-rise and straight-leg rejects.

Many times, after a grueling day in front of cruelly lighted dressing-room mirrors, a jeans-buying woman just reverts to old habits, throwing on the high-waisted, roomy-butt, peg-leg, ankle-brushing jeans that forever label her as a fashion loser.

"The fear of failure is one of the main reasons women end up buying" such jeans, said Sharon Haver, a New York City-based fashion expert and founder of FocusOnStyle (www. focusonstyle.com), a Web-based fashion magazine.

But Haver says the range of jeans on the market is an opportunity, not a problem.

"There is almost no excuse anymore to say, 'Nothing fits me,' " she pointed out.

So, it seems, women need to make peace with the idea that they'll have to spend time to get those perfect pairs of jeans. After all, it's important to them, according to 43things.com, a Web site on which people write about their goals, dreams and ambitions. On the site, 262 women listed "Find the perfect pair of jeans" along with "Take better care of my health" (22), "Start a family" (175) and "Pray every day" (152).

One way to look good is to pay attention to fashion trends, Haver says. "Just watch what other people are wearing."

What are women wearing in New York City right now?

"It's as if all the girls wearing premium boot-cut jeans threw them away one day and the next day began wearing skinny jeans and flats."

Skinny jeans might not be your favorite, but you might like an accompanying trend, Haver says.

"Tops are getting longer. They are cut to be kind of flowy with a little cling. They look great with a shorter jacket, and the best thing — they cover your tush."