The most important part of flirting is eye contact. Now we aren’t talking about a ‘possum in the headlights stare’, that’s kinda creepy - but a gentle, appraising gaze followed by a slow lowering of the eyes (as if you are feeling a little shy!)… That’s flirting.

Got it? Done it? Then the next step is to repeat the process – you’ll soon find out if your target is interested. After a few seconds of looking away ‘shyly’, look up at your desired subject again and show your interest by maintaining their eye contact. This is surprisingly hard to do. In day to day life, despite the fact that we are always looking at people we are not always actually looking them in the eye. Gazing into someone’s eyes is a powerful flirting technique that can work from across a room. Accompany an eye gaze with a small, seductive curve of the lips is most certainly intriguing for your target. If you give them a full-on toothy grin they are likely to think that you know them from somewhere and try to figure out what the grin was for!

When you get talking to this person, continue to use your eye contact technique to show your interest in them, do this especially when they are speaking. If you are doing the talking, your gaze does not need to be so directed to them.

Body language
Be aware of what your body is doing while you are talking to your target. There are subtle signs that you are interested in your target (such as by exposing your wrist) or flicking and playing with your hair, and there are really obvious signs that you are being guarded, tightly crossed arms being the main example of this (in other words, it is as if you are protecting your heart with your arms). If you want your body to display positive interest, lean forward towards your target and listen while they speak. This is a common indicator of interest and your affection towards a person. In the same way, leaning back from the person can indicate boredom or dislike.

It is very common in flirtatious body language for the sexes to enhance their gender using their body – by this, a woman may arch her back to emphasise her cleavage, or cross and uncross her legs to draw attention to them. A man may be likely to put his hands on his hips and stand in a wide-legged stance to appear bigger and dominating. There is also of course the typical puffed-out chest action that a man does to impress a target.