1.

“Simple clothing. I know that sounds random, but often women are really done up at bars in the city, and I know they are dressing up for themselves or their friends, but it somehow makes them less approachable than a girl who is more dressed down.”

— Jared

2.

“I am really impressed by a woman who will walk up and start talking to me. I’m incredibly shy, so I rarely if ever approach women in bars. However, if they approach me, I genuinely appreciate that they don’t just assume it should be on the man to make the first move.”

— Joey

3.

“A no-bullshit attitude. I met my current girlfriend at work. She walked into a meeting with a don’t-cross-me sort of attitude, and I was hooked. She was nice, polite, etc., but she didn’t come into the meeting to chat people up (myself included, lol), she came to get shit done, and I was blown away by her presence.”

— Sahill

4.

“Being funny the first time you meet someone makes such a good first impression. When a girl makes me laugh, I want to be around her.”

— James

5.

“My fiancé and I met in college, and we were good friends for a long time before we started dating. I think the fact that she was able to be candid around me, because we were very close platonically, allowed her to be so real during our first (and second, third, and fourth) impressions of each other. I think we were really fortunate to get to meet so organically like that.”

— Ryan

6.

“I am really struck by the women who make a good first impression without dominating the conversation, or asserting herself over her friends. For me, it’s a turn off when a woman is clearly trying to be the popular one of her friends, or the most attention-seeking. I just find it to be a lot.”

— Jason

7.

“I find it really appealing when a woman really wants to engage in conversation. Often times when I’m meeting women at bars, or through friends at parties, they skirt around anything substantive when talking, almost as if they aren’t willing to share anything or ask questions beyond what I do for a living, or whatever. What really is intriguing to me is when a woman and I hit it off enough to want to talk to each other for more than just a couple minutes. THAT’S someone I want to follow up with.”

— Jake

8.

“I like it when a woman subtly touches you during the first meeting. I know how that sounds, and I don’t think it needs to be overly sexual or anything, but I like having that physical contact.”

— Zacariah

9.

“It’s so sexy when a woman catches my eye and acknowledges it, instead of trying to act coy and look away. Like, if she and I look at each other and she grins, it makes me feel like it’s okay to approach her. It gives me, like, a rush of excitement.”

— Damien

10.

“I definitely think a girl who smells good but not overpowering is pretty hot. Like, when I lean in to a girl to hear her talking, and I catch a whiff of her perfume or something, it drives me crazy. But if she smells like a galloon of perfume, that’s awful.”

— Ollie

11.

“I think eye contact is so important. I want a woman to meet my gaze, as opposed to looking around shyly. When someone is looking somewhere other than at me when I’m having a conversation with them, that annoys me a little. It makes me feel like you’re just not interested in talking to me. If I’m talking to you, I’m not focusing on anything else, and I want to see that reciprocated.”

— Shaun

12.

“The best first impressions I’ve seen from women are when they aren’t trying to be something other than who they are. If I say I like baseball, don’t say you LOVE the red sox, if you actually don’t give a shit. Just say you don’t really care. People don’t have to connect on every single level, and I’m just trying to figure out if I like you as a human being or not. We don’t have to share all the same interests, and it’s not cool to say you like something in a first meeting that you actually don’t care about it, so just be real.”

— Jorge

13.

“Sense of humor, hands down. I think part of compatibility is being able to banter back and forth, and that’s really what I want to see when I meet a girl for the first time. If you make me laugh, I want to keep hanging out with you. (If you find my jokes funny, that’s also a plus.)”

— Emit

14.

“Especially in NYC, how someone dresses says a lot about where they’re at. There’s a difference between a professional dressed woman out for some after work drinks, and a girl who’s going out to drink on a Wednesday night. I think it really depends who I’m trying to meet. Am I looking for a relationship or someone to hook up with? Because some woman make a great first impression for dating, and others make a good first impression for a just-one-night type thing.”

— Ben

15.

“If we have shared interests in the first conversation, that says a lot to me about whether we’re going to see each other again.”

— Evan