Make a first impression last Lynn Harris, Match.com "Sexy" is subjective. One person's "hot" is another person's "not." So when it comes to making a good-even juicy-first impression, there's good news and bad news. Bad news: you can't predict what will turn someone else on. Good news: you can't predict what will turn someone else on. So your time's better spent dressing for success-your style-than second-guessing others. Leave some skin to the imagination. Some peekaboo cleavage, some higher-thigh when you cross your legs-definitely. But if you're busting out all over (men, you too; button up; wear a shirt under that vest…), you might get looks, but no digits. It's not immoral; it's just intimidating. Light touch. That "You're so right!" touch-for-emphasis on the arm has a high tingle factor. But don't let your fingers do any walking elsewhere. Once a sweet-enough looking guy asked me to swing dance… but his hand kept "slipping" a liiiiitle too close to my chest when he sent me out for a spin. Eeew! No more room on my dance card for him. Laughrodisiac. Laughing at his/her jokes is one of those great non-verbal intimacies you can perform in public. Lines=lame. Miss Manners has said, "The boring opening is much better than the clever one. Clever openings usually don't sound clever-they sound like lines. Conversation is like bidding in bridge: you say one small thing-about the weather, for example-and you wait to see if the other person accepts it and replies." Still, chemistry can be complicated. A recent study at the University of Texas-Austin suggests that in dating interactions, men overestimate women's sexual interest, while women underestimate men's willingness to commit. (Evolutionary explanation: when it comes to the reproductive imperative, it's better for males to risk rejection than risk not spawning; for females, it's better to play safe and not be abandoned with cubs.) Meanwhile, a study at Vienna's Ludwig Boltzmann Institude of Urban Ethology suggests that women don't necessarily send clear rejection signals. A drink in the face is one thing, but we're also conditioned to be polite-or at least to stick around to verify our first impressions. Best news of all: sometimes we're wrong. My friend Jeanne hated Greg the first time they met, dismissing him as a cigar-smoking, suspiciously tan stockbroker. Of course, Greg is a cigar-smoking, suspiciously tan stockbroker, but after meeting him a second time, Jeanne warmed up to the personality underneath. And eventually married him. Sometimes first impressions are only second best. Just be yourself. If you're shy, be shy; you'll attract people who like shy. Act loud, and you'll act weird. Even if at first you don't succeed, you will make the right impression on the right person.