I think my type was imprinted in my brain at around age ten. A new family moved in across the street and the mom was the first adult woman I ever crushed on. Ever since I find myself most strongly attracted to women that resemble her physically. The type? Petite, sharpish features, dark haired, dark eyed, slightly raspy voice. Sort of Kate Jackson-y.
Fair-skinned but somewhat rugged-looking; no squeaky-clean '90s boygroup types! Intelligent and very charismatic. Slim to average in body type. that’s all I can think of now…
IME, women are more likely to have ‘types’. Men are are attracted to the magnitude of a partner’s looks.
If a woman tells you she likes tall thin blond cowboy types, and you introduce her to a really good-looking, short, well-built Italian guy, she will likely respond, “He’s gorgeous, but… not my type”.
Whereas, a guy may say he likes tall, thin blondes, but if you introduce him to a beautiful, short, well-built Italian woman, he will flip over her. Remind him of his stated preference, and he’ll reply, “Yeah, but,… look at her!”
That said, I’m pretty much an exception to my own rule. I usually fall for dark-eyed, well-built Mediterranean women (Italian, Sephardic Jewish, French). I fall for exotic, not cute.
I’m a short, well-built, dark-eyed Greek guy, which I think has influenced my preferences. (I believe that if you are happy with a trait in yourself, you are attracted to that trait in your partner. If not, you are attracted to an opposing trait).
The women I fall for are usually not tall, but I think that’s more women’s preferences than mine: I know that many women are loath to date men shorter than them. Although, curiously, most women who have approached me have been my height or taller.
The love of my life was the one exception to my ‘type’: she was slim, blonde and girl-next-door cute. But I fell for her in high school, before my preferences were in place, and when I started dating her (following the 20-year reunion), the memory transcended any preferences I’d settled on.
I tend to be attracted to men with darker coloring. Dark hair and brown eyes. Bigger dude or at least tall. I don’t like small or overly skinny men.
Personality wise, funny guys get me every time. If you can make me laugh, I’m yours. I like confidence, bordering on cockyness.
Actually, now that I am reflecting on it, this describes my dad almost exactly. shudder
Me: white, blonde/ blue.
Asian women. The Navy sent me all over Asia and man, did that forever change me.
My wife is half Indonesian, half Dutch and a major babe. Lotsa dudes hit on Mrs. Toofs and it doesn’t bother me a bit!
Short, slim waist, ass that sticks out.
:: thinks back over life ::
The women I’ve managed to connect with have all been plump, curvy, wide-hipped, big-breasted. Other than that, they’ve been very different: one was Jamaican, one was Chinese, one was Finnish, the one I let get away was Danish, and I still regret that… that doesn’t mean that that’s the only type I’m attracted to though. I had and have major attraction to a slender olive-skinned southern Italian woman. And then there’s the Irish redhead, and the Asian woman, and the Anglo brunette…
I think the commonality with these women is that they are all visually distinctive, easy for me to recognise at a distance. Face blindness means that I have trouble recognizing people at the best of times, and I need all the help I can get.
The majority of guys I’ve ever been attracted to have dark hair - black or brown - and dark eyes, but there have been a few with blue eyes, and small handful of blonds who turned my head over the years too. (no redheads, of course.). I also prefer guys who are between 5’9" and 6’1" though I’m more adverse to taller than that than shorter.
Personality-wise, though smart and funny are always a winning combination, every guy I’ve ever been attracted to all the way back to first middle school crushes, has had one thing in common: they’re more out-going than I am. Not necessarily really extroverted, but more so than me. They’re much easier to talk to than fellow introverts, though I’m not severely introverted myself.
Interesting reading. I was married once to a short (5’8"–same height as me), stocky Italian–think Tony Danza–and a tall, thin, light-haired Englishman, a David Niven type. Nowadays I’m attracted to tallish, somewhat plump men with curly blonde or gray hair, blue or green eyes, and glasses. Really thin men sort of turn me off now.
What attracts me most, though, isn’t looks–it’s intelligence, the ability to make me laugh, and the ability to introduce me to new things and take interest in, or at least try to, things I’m interested in. I guess this is why I’ve been single for five years now.
Oh, and I’ve almost exclusively dated British, Irish, or Scottish men (I live in Florida) since my divorce. They seem as attracted to me as I am to them. So far that hasn’t turned out well for me, though.
I’m a guy, and just like most guys the physical will certainly get my attention first, but the personality needs to be there from the start too.
Physical: Petite, reasonly slim but not anorexic, small boobs, narrow hips (very tight butt), short dark hair, cute-more-than-glamourous, little to no makeup, doesn’t dress ostentatiously (more in the way of “quirky” fashion choices, but NO piercings).
Personality: Perky, idiosyncratic, optimistic/idealistic, energetic, guileless, spiritual but not religious, compassionate/warm, animal lover, silly sense of humor, noncontrolling, nonjudgemental (but not to a fault), bluntly honest, and keenly perceptive.
The one time I thought I had met same was in college-physically she fit the bill to a T (except being 5’ 7"-with legs like hers I didn’t complain), and with the attendant personality (as I originally perceived it) I initially thought I had died and gone to heaven. But the negatives started popping out pretty soon (which is why their opposites show up in my current list) and it turned out that she was quite controlling (she=only child, FWIW). Never put out either, despite this being a college town known for such things (moreso than a usual campus).
MTA: You will note that a goodly number of lesbians fit my profile perfectly, as I’ve come to discover to my chagrin… 
Kind of like Beer Nuts, but worse?
All the guys I’ve been attracted to have had the following in common:
Slender and fairly fit (the tennis player build, I call it)
Masculine voice (on the low side anyway)
Tone deaf (I’m not attracted to this but somehow they all end up being unable to identify a chord if it hit them in the face)
Geeky about a specific field (motorbikes, philosophy, etc)
Short hair
Taller than me (but I’m 5 ft, so that’s not difficult)
Smaller than me and smart enough to wade into pretty much any conversation without appearing too out of place. Since I’m so slim myself this is harder than it sounds.
I like my men tall (5’10" or more), broad-shouldered, fit and toned without being over-buff or ripped, dark hair and eyes, distinctive nose, and nice ass. I prefer short hair to long, and balding or bald is an immediate turn-off. I don’t even like really deep hairlines or thinning hair - must be a full head of hair for me. Facial hair is ok - depends on the guy. I like masculine men - nothing to waxed/coiffed/metrosexual for me.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars is just about perfect, except when he’s wearing douchebag clothes and a big diamond earring.
Ian Thorpe, the Australian swimmer, totally floats my boat.
I was madly in love with Tom Cruise when I was younger.
And even though he’s blonde, Matthew McConaughey can play the bongos and smoke pot naked on my back porch any day!
And here’s a smiley face because my son insisted: 
I tend to flip over women with delicate, but distinctive features and mostly naturally colored and styled hair. Glasses are a bonus.
I don’t really go for any particular body type, though I prefer a healthy BMI and a “balanced” hips:chest ratio. When I really dig someone (due to the aforementioned facial features and her generally fantastic personality), I can always find something about her body to get me hot and bothered.
My one dealbreaker: her hands and feet must be smaller than mine.
I’m 5’6", glove size = 6, ring size = 4.5, shoe size = 6.5 :). I’ve never gotten any attention from guys over my small hands and feet, but a number of women have complimented them.
I like my men well-groomed, with dark hair and pretty features (well-defined cheekbones and jaws especially). Svelte, fit but not too heavily muscled. Height between 5’9"-6’1" is ideal, but height isn’t that big a deal. I’d prefer him to be taller than me, but mainly because I’d worry about looking like a walking house when we go out together.
The current boy is European, blonde, hairy, and has a truly prodigious nose, and I am very fond of/attracted to him. He does have nice shoulders. I have asked him to grab objects from the top shelf of the closet so I could admire the muscles sliding along his back :p.
A lot of my ex-boyfriends have the approximate personality of that dude msmith who posts here sometimes and used to enrage the female Doper quotient en masse. 
I guess I’d say highly driven + ambitious + reasonably intelligent. I’ve dated a lot of investment bankers/consultant types.
I dunno. Although I think guys with dark hair and blue eyes are good looking (all other things being equal), when I look back I see only one of those out of a rather uh, large field.
There was a 6’8" half black half Chinese musician from Jamaica, and there was the 5’6" newscaster from North Carolina and the 6’ blonde/blue surfer dude from Ventura, the Hawaiian guy and the Latino guy . . . The common denominator was their interest in me, good personalities, and coolness in general (with some deviations, natch).
I apologize ahead of time for rambling a bit. Female beauty (both internal and external) is one of my favorite subjects. 
The looks thing is really hard, since I find people outside my preferences that are still quite hot all the time. But I tend to go for the red-headed look that you see in medieval movies and stuff. You know, ruddy complexion, light smattering of freckles, gorgeous red lips, and thin-but-not-too-thin frame.
What’s really important is personality. She has to be quite vibrant. She needs to be almost overly nice. She has to put out the vibe that she can fend for herself, but, at the same time, wouldn’t mind me taking care of her. And yet, I’ve still got to feel she doesn’t mind taking care of me when I need it, too.
I really want her to be smart, though. A lot of people don’t see bubbly and smart going together, but they do. Well, to be more accurate, smartness just means having an intellectual curiosity. The actual type comes off as bit naive until you get to know her. She’s often quite shy initially, but opens up once she realizes she’s found a kindred spirit.
Oh, and when it comes to Hollywood beauties, I agree with the plain-Jane cute thing. The thing is, I think Angelina Jolie fit that until her plastic surgery. She had those odd lips that offset her traditional attractiveness to make her more cute than hot. Those little flaws are very important. The “Hollywood beautiful” are often quite generic looking.
Finally, I’m really big about style. If you dress well and for your body type, you’re going to be a heck of a lot more attractive. That bold part is really important, though. While most people seem to get that they shouldn’t wear too small clothes, a lot of people think wearing too big ones are fine. Think Nicole Richy–she’d be so stylish if she’d wear clothes that fit.
Elf women. Whether this be pixie-esque or tall, red-headed amazons - if they look like they stepped out of the pages of Froud/Lee´s Fairies, I´m sold.