Primarily, mosquitoes are attracted to us by the way our skin smells and the carbon dioxide we exhale. Mosquito repellents work by affecting the insects’ senses, like smell and taste, so that they’re unable to locate you.  To make yourself even more unattractive to mosquitoes, try wearing the color green, blue, or purple. In a 2022 study published in Nature Communications, researchers found that mosquitoes were more attracted to people who wore the colors red, orange, black, and cyan, and virtually ignored those who wore green, blue, or purple.