When picking a dating partner, there are many factors to take into account – and on dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, first impressions are vitally important.

But what are the most attractive eye colours? Lenstore has performed research on these major dating apps to investigate which eyes drew the most attention from possible partners.

How did we conduct the eye colour dating experiment?

To truly understand how specific eye colours contribute to attractiveness, we set up a male and female dating profile and used several sample images provided by each individual to create their online dating profile. Their eye colours were then modified in image-editing software between tests to see how many “matches” they could achieve using the same images and biography in the apps – but with different eye colours.

Blue is the most attractive eye colour in males

According to our research – for men, blue eyes stood out as a clear winner, with total matches for the eye colour representing 27% of all results – while the next most popular version of the images, brown, garnered only 22%.

When looking deeper into the psychology behind eye colours, Ness Cooper, a sex and relationship coach at www.thesexconsultant.com says that “if you prefer blue eyes for example, it may be that you just have good past experiences as a child where happier feelings and positive hormones were released due to feeling safe with that person, and your memory may be recalling those moments when searching for a future partner or date.”

When looking into the history behind eye colours – according to Dr Alexander Lapa, Psychiatrist at Ocean Recovery Centre explains: “A peer-reviewed literature study highlighted that we subconsciously perceive individuals with brown eyes as innocent and trustworthy, although this is likely to be attributed to the accompanying facial structure.”

“Furthermore, inversely, the research suggested that those with more angular shaped faces and blue eyes are absent of this quality. Nevertheless, they can be perceived as ‘sexier’ and can give the impression of wanting to try new things’.”

The least popular eye colour was purple, a colour impossible in natural eyes and only achieved through wearing coloured contact lenses, gaining only 8% of all matches.