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A good smell can turn a 5/6 into a 10 for me, no doubt. There’s just something about it. I can’t help thinking “so that’s what my pillows could smell like. nice…” Gardenias and vanilla in particular get my attention.
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Another (more recent) favorite is super soft skin. I’m dating a girl now, I swear she’s probably put on moisturizing lotion every day of her life since she hit puberty. And it’s like buttah, like a walking, talking set of warm satin sheets. Just…amazing.
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This one is bizarre: good table manners. I have no explanation for it. I don’t know why I find it endearing and sexy, but I do.
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Girls that run around my place, wearing my business shirts. Rawr.
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A good laugh. A perfect giggle from an otherwise serious looking girl is a winner. A bad heehaw laugh is a loser for me, always.
Hampshire … dead on! I agree totally!
Also, smarts, brains.
Even with the “typical” eye pleasers, could be a model type, that all men
do a double take at if they pass them in the hall or on the street. I find smart girls
sooo sexy. No bimbo’s please. Yuck
An average looking girl with
A female doctor or with Hampshire’s discription (great personality) … yummmmm.
Makes my legs weak and my heart go pitter patter 
This is what I call a damn good question.
There’s a mix of intelligence, wit, cleverness, creativity and curiosity that’s very appealing, the happiness in learning anything new, the inventiveness to combine ideas in ways that no one has before, an attitude that the world gets more interesting the more you know about it. (Hard to think of an example, but it’s the exact opposite of the dumb blonde stereotype. Or listen to Roxanne Roberts on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.)
Confidence. Don’t assume my ego requires that you always agree with me, or that I need to be taken care of. Say what you really mean.
Naturally feminine (I can’t think of a better phrase for it); no two-inch-long fingernails or over-engineered hair that will collapse at the first hint of rain.
Certain accents are good. (elegant, eastern european, good; cockney, bad) Glasses are very good.
Healthy and fit, but not rail thin.
EarthStone777, I think there’s a way of describing physical characteristics in ways that bring out personality as well. Like when a woman leans forward to look closely at something and reaches up to tuck her collar-length hair behind her ear; there’s a sense of effortless, low-maintenance femininity that doesn’t interfere with the curiosity.
I’ve known a few women that in person, just seem to draw men like flies. But then you see their picture and think “Ok, but nothing special”.
I’ve thought about why this is. They seem to have a presence, first of all, which might go back to the confidence thing previously mentioned. But I believe it’s also that these women, when you speak with them, their focus is all encompassing. They smile and laugh at what you say. For a brief window of time, you become their world. It may only last a moment, but they capture your soul in that moment.
“Bouncy Tits and Round Asses”, if you just want the physical, is fine with me.
Of course, virtually all tits are bouncy to some degree, and all asses are round.
I can easily do without the flat stomach and pencil-thin thighs (that last one doesn’t sound healthy). I don’t mind extra poundage at all.
I still will go into the bedroom to watch Pepper Mill get undressed, and I like to get a peek at her various parts before goiong to sleep at night.
Count me in the list of guys who like confidence. A sense of humor is critical as well.
I do NOT like the anorectic, coked-out-cutie look that seems to be popular. As far as the physical shape goes, I like women that have nice proportions who are athletic enough to have good muscle tone and a nice “hitch in their git-along” when they walk.
And I absolutely love it when they smile and it goes all the way up into their eyes. I’m tired of seeing sneers and fake, plastic smiles; a genuine smile and a sparkle in the eye turns a woman from good-looking to dropdead gorgeous.
Oh, I also like someone who could take me one for three falls.
This is an important point. Many guys would love to see their SO in a tiny bikini, or Daisy Dukes, or what have you, but most women seem to think they need to be physically perfect to get away with that. I’m here to say that’s not true. Maybe it is the confidence to wear something like that, as tremorviolet suggests.
Skip the middle one. Compliments about bodily appearance could be construed as harrassment.
I don’t think there is any way I could come close to pronouncing the middle one.
I might try the first one the next time I see her but I think I’m speaking with more of a Klingon accent.
Me, I go for the bookish brunette stereotype. But she has to have a certain elegant simplicity, not just be a ratbag in a shapeless sweatshirt.
I’d provide details, but I could probably go on all night, so I’ll refrain.
Dunno, but I have a thing for girls with rat characteristics…
Slight overbite, shorter furry hair, not perfect posture (not hunched of course), not meek like a mouse–rather would strike out if threatened. Playful and yet knows what’s going on about her.
Mmmmmm
I like a girl with a smile. A real smile, the kind that goes straight to her eyes and from her eyes to those of whoever she’s smiling at.
I like eyelashes. If you have nice eyelashes, I will spend time staring at them. Mascara is not all that great, but oh, do I ever like eyelashes.
I like huggable people. This is not necessarily a physical quality; it’s more of a personality thing, but it translates physically. Huggable people are good.
I like someone with a nice line to her back. I don’t want to be able to see every bone under there - just, you know, the movement of shoulderblades and spine… it’s very aesthetically pleasing.
I just realised that all my qualities here go for males too, which probably means they aren’t specific enough, so I’ll bow out before I bore someone.
An earlier poster gave good advice for writing a story. Focus on the emotions and reactions to the other person’s actions. The reader will often fill in the rest. Avoid the, “saucy redhead with emerald eyes,” type of description if you can. That said, here are some things that do it for me.
The way she smells. There have been a couple of really pretty women I met who didn’t do much for me when I got close. One girlfriend was pretty plain but for some reason just the smell of her made me want to rip her clothes off. And I did, often. I haven’t had that kind of reaction to many women, but when I do, it bypasses most of my thought processes. Subtle perfume is okay, but dousing in scent will make me interested in nothing but getting away from the choking cloud.
Bodies can range all over the place. I’ve been attracted to extremes of voluptuous and slender and everything in between. A little extra weight isn’t a deal breaker but I vastly prefer a woman who is in shape. I actually like some muscle on her, especially nice hard round calves. Small waist in comparison to hips and chest makes a difference in how appealing I find her shape. Notice that I said slender, not skinny. Slender women have small bones, a little fat, and some muscle. Skinny women, with stick-like legs, hollow cheeks, and no muscle tone are not attractive.
Confidence is nice, but I’ve also been attracted to some who didn’t have the confidence they deserved. I actually notice them more in some circumstances. I’ve been more attracted to the shy girl who was hanging out with her confident (and bitchy) friend because the shy one was more fun to talk to and showed more of her real personality.
Brains! I absolutely cannot stand being around stupid women. Women who think excessively about vapid things may not be necessarily stupid, but I wouldn’t be able to date them for long. Rachel from Friends, I’d bang, but if I made the mistake of dating her long term I’d probably want to slit my wrists every time I tried to talk about something that was actually important to me. I was a Literature major, though I started out seriously considering Engineering (my bank account balance tells me I should have stuck with my first choice). Someone who couldn’t appreciate either literature or technology wouldn’t be able to relate to me, and I’d have nothing to talk about with her.
Thoughtful conversation. Not everything has to be deep and profound, but chattering for the sake of conversing is not that appealing. I like to get women talking about the things they have some emotion or interest invested in so that I can see what they’re really like. I like seeing what she looks like when she’s feeling passionate about something. That’s probably part of where that cliche line, “You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” came from (that and the pink cheeks, heaving bosom, and flashing eyes; all cliche but true).
List of random things I’ve found appealing about women: high cheekbones; open expressive eyes; graceful neck; the way her breath catches when I touch her, even if it’s just brushing her cheek; peering up at me shy but challenging through a veil of her hair; noticing me, choosing to focus on me out of all the others in the room; posture and grace in moving; showing through body language that I’m the focus of her attention; the way she bites her lip when she’s intent on something; how she reaches out to gently touch me sometimes, like she’s making sure I still exist.
Gay girl here. I like androgynous women, something about that intense mix of feminine and masculine is just magical to me. Handsome/cute/pretty face with short hair, great smile. I like confident, strong women who know how to get what they want and are somewhat fearless. Especially with me ;). There’s just something overwhelmingly sexy about someone you’re attracted to who wants you, bad.
Okay, okay, in other words, my girlfriend swoon.
Czech chicks! 
My heart skips a beat on a woman’s hips…That luscious curve that separates girl from woman…From the front the way the hips DEMAND my attention away from the breasts and groin to follow their line down to the knees…From the back how the waist flows out, then down, then over, then in, to the amazing ass-ets possessed by true goddesses who walk the earth with legs designed to lift and sway said hips with every step…The dimples on the lower back on either side of the spine which are evolution’s way of saying “When grasping and guiding the hips, thumbs go here.”
I need to go take a cold shower now.
-Tcat
I don’t know why this is always such a no-no for every story though. I have a story where I describe a character in full physical detail. It’s a spy sort of character talking, so he notices details, and every detail (even down to the eye colour) has plot significance. But apparently I have to take it out because it looks like bad writing.
Anyway, to the OP, my answer is similar to many of the others here: a smiley face. The kind of face that, even when it’s in repose, looks like it spends a lot of time smiling. That’s the kind of person I want around me.
Big boobs are very important to me too. Sometimes the shallow, conventional attributes are what an individual is attracted to.
Granted I’ve had absolutely no success with women, but IMO the woman outside is largely irrelevant; as long as you’ve got reasonably the right proportions, it’s the woman inside that matters. If I want a sexpot I’ll look at a Playboy picture; a woman with whom I’ll live requires less on a physical level and more on a mental level.
Since I’m no looker myself, perhaps this is a self-reflection?
Okay, this isn’t going to make sense, but I’m gonna say it anyway: it’s not that strippers are sexy, it’s that they know how to be sexy.
I was in a topless bar once and it was empty. So one of the dancers is there chatting me up and I asked her if she knew she was sexy before she started working there. She was dumbfounded. She still didn’t understand that she was sexy. She may not have been sexy if I had seen her walking down the street, but there she was. It’s like they put on a mask and play a role.
I don’t call what it is confidence. I’m more inclined to call it aplomb, an I-can-do-no-wrong attitude. (But not to the point of being obnoxious.) I think the sexiest woman I’ve ever met was so sexy because she had that. It’s like a confident person knows she is pronouncing a word correctly, even if she’s not; a person with aplomb will pronounce the word and she thinks she has it right, but if she doesn’t, then so what?
That’s my take on it. YMMV…'cos shy can be sexy, too.
I’m a sucker for gorgeous eyes and a good pair of shoulders: think Audrey Hepburn or Jennifer Love Hewitt on the shoulders. There’s also something sexy about a white t-shirt and a good pair of jeans.
The most important thing is a sense of humor. I know. It’s one of the biggest cliches ever. Still true though. There is nothing more attractive than flinging a strange joke out of left field and getting it returned back with a joke of her own. Little comedic back and forth is so necessary.