I painted my nails red and have never been asked out on so many dates

Could a nail color be the secret to getting dates?

According to TikTok, painting your nails a vibrant red is the key to getting a potential lover’s attention, and it’s called the “red nail theory.”

“I’ve never been asked out on so many dates or complimented so much as I have in the past two or three weeks with these nails,” user Melisse Martineau gushed in one video, flashing her red manicure to the camera.

“I’ve been asked out on five or six dates,” she continues in the clip, with more than 759,000 views. “I don’t know what it is but [the red nail theory] is real.”

She’s not the only one. The hashtag #rednailtheory has amassed more than 2.1 million views and #rednailtheoryisreal has over 909,000 views on TikTok, with thousands of people saying the splash of crimson has spiced up their dating lives.

“I receive the most compliments whenever I wear red nails,” another user agreed. “Girls, get red nails.”

“Just saying, the red nail theory works, and now I have a boyfriend,” added another.

According to a study published in 2008 by psychologists Andrew Elliot and Daniela Niesta from the University of Rochester, the color red makes men feel more amorous towards women. Their study, “Romantic Red: Red Enhances Men’s Attraction to Women,” was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

In the study, the authors noted that compared to other colors, red makes men see women as more attractive and more sexually desirable.

“Men seem unaware of this red effect, and red does not influence women’s perceptions of the attractiveness of other women, nor men’s perceptions of women’s overall likeability, kindness, or intelligence,” they noted.

Some TikTokers had a simpler explanation as to why red nails bring on the men.

“If anything they’re drunk at a bar and bright red stands out, and it’s all they can think of to start a convo,” one user joked.