Hey there once more! Glad to hear the feedback was somewhat useful! It's always great experimenting around, so I wouldn't call your darken layer a move towards the wrong direciton. It might have even helped you with her darker side of the face. The key with blending modes here might be only using them in the areas they likely can improve. e. g. "Darken" will work best in shadow areas and "Lighten" will work best in light areas, because they generally can increase contrast there and contrast is essentially what we aim for in everything (values, saturation, hue, shapes, composition,...) Just try around a bit and maybe you'll notice some of these things! Best of luck! | Artwod Feedback