New research seems to show that women find men with healthy skin tones more attractive than men with masculine faces. Previous studies had suggested that heterosexual women tend to be more attracted to men with distinctively masculine features -- prominent cheek bones, heavy brows, and a defined jaw line. But other research has shown that “golden” skin, a natural indicator of good health, is also an attractor.
To test which had a stronger effect, researchers took photographs of 75 men, then measured the color of the faces and used a computer program to rate their masculinity. They found that facial masculinity wasn't nearly as important as skin tone.
According to the study:
“... [I]ncreased skin redness, yellowness, and lightness enhance apparent health ... Masculinity was not found to be associated with attractiveness ... However, skin color was found to be an important predictor of attractiveness judgments ... Our results suggest that more plastic health cues, such as skin color, are more important than developmental cues such as masculinity.”