Beauty retouching! help!

[Revolver]

Hey all! I am working on perfecting my retouching techniques for skin texture, etc. Here is a link to a before and after for review:
http://www.revolverphotography.com/melisbefafterw.jpg (i thought a link would be better so you could see the detail properly)
I would love to hear any constructive criticism or tips from those of you who know the ropes and have been working in this field for a while!

Thanks!

[Revolver]

Ps you may need to refresh your window for some reason on mine it won't show up on the first click

[Photo678]

Nice work,

3 tips that i've learned over the years...whites of the eyes should be a bit whiter....overall the image itself is a bit too soft, needs to be sharper....and a bit more contrast on the image, feels a bit flat to me.

Those three things always seem to come up...but other than that, really nice work.

[Revolver]

thanks! Something more like this you think?:

http://www.revolverphotography.com/melissaafterw2.jpg

[Photo678]

exactly....nice

[SchlinkyMalinky]

I agree, nice work. Subtle reshaping of the lips etc. Regarding the contrast and 'pop' this is a continuation of the last pic you posted.....

Just curve work really

http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_734lo.jpg

[EternalTomorrow]

Great work being done here guys!

Revolver, what were the original steps you did to get the skin to the condition it is at?

Thanks!

Rocksteady,
Danno~

[Revolver]

well i try to stay away from blurring and losing real texture so what I did was healing brush any major imperfections (blemishes or really big pores) and then I duplicated the layer and on the top layer I patch tooled the large pores, wrinkles, etc so that it was relatively smooth. ( I patched the pores to areas with smaller pores so that they were still there just less visible) then I lightly clone stamped areas like the under eyes and other problem areas. then I reduced the opacity of the top layer. I did any skin tone corrections after flattening the layers. . .