And D&B ( clearly need tons more practice on that one)  , ANNNND working on an actual picture.

Nowhere near finished though , just thought I'd show what I'm on so far and see what people think.

This has made me more interested in product retouching as well though....

I think it rocks.  Keep inventing.

since this is a WIP I am not sure what the end result will look like. but since you are increasing the highlights in the face a lot you might end up getting a very plastic-like look. depending on what you are after that might / might not be what you want.

I love the original way much better. Infact, I had to take a second to agree you retouched rightways and not leftways.

The whites are distracting, and too prominent, skin work is very bad, and you destroyed texture, some shadows and some natural shape of the model, whats that white spot near the armpit there for?

The wrinkles and imperfections are visible even now, and she still has hair on her arm.

This image doesn't need much D&B to start with. (Depending on what are you after of course) You shouldn't try to emphasize highlights so badly because it won't look natural.

You must be aware of what you want to do with D&B. Generally it is used to ger rid of the unwanted highlights/shadows to make skin look soft and smooth without blurring it. You can also use it to make skin looking plastic and 3D-like. There is much much more.

Here I used only some D&B and minor levels adjustements and sharpening.



Of course I could commit much more time to make it much more smooth but that's not the point here.

I suggest you to look up nienna1990 tutorial on D&B.

workin on similar image the after, her skin looks kinda faint (pale).