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All dolled up today? Maybe you're ovulating

Michelle Meyers
Michelle Meyers wrote and edited CNET News stories from 2005 to 2020 and is now a contributor to CNET.
Michelle Meyers
2 min read

This one's for the ladies: Ever have one of those days when you just feel like getting a little snazzy? Your outfit comes together naturally and you hear a lot of comments like, "You look nice today."

You might be tempted to chalk it up to that great workout you had the night before, the sunshine you've been taking in or those vitamins finally doing the trick.

Chances are, however, it's your fertility talking, at least according to a new study showing that women dress their best when they are ovulating. How's that for a low-tech way to get a sense of your monthly cycle?

In the study, published in the journal Hormones and Behavior, 30 university students who didn't know the nature of the experiment, visited a lab several times over the course of a month and were photographed twice, once in their fertile phase and once in their least fertile phase, according to a Reuters story. Their faces in the photographs were blacked out.

The researchers, led by Martie Haselton of the University of California, Los Angeles, asked 42 men and women to evaluate the photos and answer, "In what photo is the person trying to look more attractive?" Sixty percent of the time the judges chose the photo taken during the women's fertile phase, according to the story.

We're not so sure about Haselton's description of the findings as "highly statistically significant," as noted in a Washington Post story on the study. Still, all those women spending tons of money on ovulation kits might want to start by taking a good look in the mirror.