Women are more attracted to flirtatious faces when they are at the most fertile point of their monthly cycle, according to new English research reported by the BBC.

Evolutionary psychologist Dr Edward Morrison of the University of Portsmouth asked women to rate the attractiveness of various facial expressions.

He found that women preferred flirtatious expressions when they were ovulating.

Researchers produced various facial models that were rated on a flirtatiousness scale by one group of 16 women.

A separate group of 47 women then rated them for attractiveness on a scale of one to seven.

The researchers found that women preferred faces that were more animated.

However, Dr Morrison had a word of caution: “Science is still a long way from discovering the magic formula for what women find attractive in a man.”