Ladies, which of the two men photographed above is more attractive to you? If you picked the one on the right, then like most women, you like yellow.
It turns out that the secret to attracting women doesn't lie in how masculine a man looks, rather, it depends on how yellow or red he is:
Women in a recent experiment preferred men with yellower and redder skin tones, both of which can signal good health, a crucial factor in choosing a mate, scientists say.
For instance, people of any race who eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables tend to have yellower hues, and people who are physically fit have more oxygenated—and thus, redder—blood and skin.
By contrast, pallid skin with lesions is generally considered unattractive, perhaps because such traits betray a weak immune system, said study co-author Ian Penton-Voak, an experimental psychologist at the University of Bristol in the U.K.
Unexpectedly, the women in the study showed no preference for men with traditionally masculine features, such as a prominent jaw and high muscle mass, the researchers say.
"What we found is—to our surprise—when you measure masculinity, it doesn't bear any relation to attractiveness at all," Penton-Voak said.
The face of the guy on the right, just the shape of it, annoys me for some reason. I guess he just looks too smug. I really don't think he's attractive, and I chose the one on the left. And I definitely didn't choose it because of skin tint. He just has a better smile.
I'd say symmetry plays a HUGE part.
You may be confusing the story with how in the 18th century, the British navy had forgotten the cure to scurvy (it was large amounts of vitamin C via lemons) and tried to eat carrots instead. Their skin became discolored.
All this information I found through this fine website at one point.