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Masculine men are more likely to have ugly daughters, according to a new study.

While children of attractive parents have up to a 70 percent chance of being attractive as well, new research reveals that children of attractive women and masculine men are more likely to produce handsome sons and unattractive daughters. Researchers said the reason is because some of the father's masculine features would be passed on to their daughters.

"If you want to have good-looking kids you should marry someone who is good looking. That would be the simplest analysis," said researcher Professor Tim Bates from Edinburgh University, according to the Daily Mail.

"If a woman was picking a mate who seemed very attractive because he was very masculine, she would be possibly making her sons more appealing but equally making her daughters less attractive," he added. "Which means probably women won't evolve preferences for highly masculine men because there as many costs as there are benefits in their children."

The latest study involved 1,580 people between the ages of 15 and 22 in the United States and Australia who were judged by eight judges.

The findings revealed that children get good looks if their parents have good genes.

"There is the popular misquotation of Shakespeare that beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Bates said. "If that was true then you might think those eight judges would prefer totally different people, but in fact they were agreeing 90 per cent of the time on the ratings."

"Inherited attractiveness could be a whole range of things from healthy hair, healthy skin, to symmetrical face, and height," he added. "It's a mixture you are passing on. Some things that make for attractiveness, such as being symmetrical is a good thing, and if you pass on symmetry that will make your children similarly attractive to yourself."

"But some things are valued in one sex, and either not valued or actually not liked in the other." Bates concluded.  "Very masculine fathers will be passing that 'masculine look' on to their daughters, and that won't help when people come to rate their attractiveness."

The findings were published in the journal Behavior Genetics.