Science says you should wear this color if you want to feel *extra* sexy

We all feel a little blah sometimes, so if you find you’re in need of a quick pick-me-up, you might want to wear more red. A new study has found that people feel most sexy when they wear red, an unsurprising finding to be sure (how many songs have been written about this?), but a useful one for our self-care routines nonetheless.

According to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, people who wore red tended to rate their own attractiveness as higher than those wearing other colors.

Plus, the red-wearers also rated themselves as more sexually receptive than those dressed in blue.

To come to this conclusion, researchers asked participants to don either red or blue T-shirts and sit in cubicles outfitted with mirrors. Then, the participants were asked to rate their own attractiveness. Researchers then asked participants to make the same personal-attractiveness rating, but after taking a photo of themselves instead of looking into a mirror.

The study’s lead researcher, Anne Berthold, told PsyPost that she was inspired to investigate the effect of red on self-perceived attractiveness after reading “the red effect” research — a 2014 study that found wearing red, or even just being near the color red, makes you more attractive to strangers.

"We found that people can feel more attractive when putting on red clothes," she explained.

“It might be that the red effect does not work for everybody,” Berthold continued. “Maybe, some (probably insecure) individuals could feel even worse when dressing red, because they might feel that now everybody notices and judges them.”

For most, though, wearing red provides at least a confidence boost. So go ahead — why not slip into a red dress you love and see how sexy it makes you feel?