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Normunds,

She is a beautiful girl. I love the intensity of her eye contact and her subtly sensual expression. Your focus on her eyes is excellent -- as are the catchlights and composition. Her make-up and manicure look very nice. I really like the highlights on her fingernails (right hand).

The fingernail polish color seems a little bright compared to her make-up. It does bring out the red in her top, but I find the colors in her top too bright and the pattern too bold for a portrait. My eyes are drawn away from her face. It is especially true of the green under her left palm and between her fingers. In a portrait nothing should distract from the subject's face.

The background is nicely neutral, but I would like a little hair or backlight to separate her hair a little more from the background. I like the black at the bottom, but I would like to see what she is leaning on. The black void at the bottom bothers me. 

The placement of her arms frames her face very well. I would like to have her turn her right hand a bit more in increase its angle to the camera. So much of her palm towards the camera makes it look a bit large to me. It would appear thinner if less was showing. I don't know if she is pushing on her right thumb with her forehead, but the wrinkles on her palm are too prominent. If she would extend the little finger on her right hand she would help remove the wrinkles at the bottom of her little finger. By moving her right hand more to the side of her face she wouldn't cut off part of her right eye, which I find somewhat annoying. I wish you had shown the connection of her left forearm to her left upper arm so that it is apparent this is her arm. It is just sort of appearing from the right side of the picture. The fingernail polish color is the same on each hand so we can assume both arms are hers. :)

If her skin was less sharp it would not only help lessen the distinctiveness of the wrinkles on her right hand, but it would make the dark circles under her eyes less dominant and make her complexion smoother looking. Girl's skin often looks better when their skin is not overly sharp. Her skin looks a little like the pattern you see on a basketball or football -- almost a reptilian skin appearance. 

Her skin tone is a little too warm. I would whiten the whites of her eyes and her teeth a tad.

I included a rendition of this picture that is a little cooler and I softened the skin a little.

Nice shot,

Mark

Hi Normunds..... you have a gorgeous model here and you have done her proud.

In reading Marks critique and flicking backwards and forwards between the to two images, I understand what he is saying and by him submitting his version, I have learned a lot (thank you Mark).

Nevertheless, a great subject whichever version one prefers.

Regards

Very beautiful lighting and expressive.

Good light with good composition.. as Mark chartrand work on this picture and gave it a new diemension.... both  the work are good.. 6...

A beautiful portrait! I absolutely prefer your original version, in comparison to Mark's processed suggestion. I want skin to look like skin, and not porcelain. People should look like humans and not like dolls. Your model does look human.