I love complimenting people, man or woman. However, as you said, I like to compliment something that took effort or at least commitment, not luck. It costs nothing and often nets happiness.

I’ve mentioned this on lemmy before, but one of my favorite memories is complimenting a random guy’s jacket in the waiting area at an Outback Steakhouse. The jacket was loud, but pretty cool. I said I liked it; he grinned, thanked me and clapped me on my shoulder. The person I presume was his girlfriend or wife rolled her eyes, but smiled.

That’s all the context I have, but I assume she had teased him for it and he had defended it. Whatever the actual circumstances were, everyone walked away smiling.