What kind of filter for outdoor portraits?

I am thinking I would like to try a filter for outdoor portraits, so my skies aren't blown out. In researching, it sounds like a circular polorizer would be my best option? Or would a ND filter be better for portraits?

Thank you for any and all help!

Your best bet is to:
Shoot when you don't have a very wide dynamic range... Easiest and Least Expensive.
Place your subject in open shade and use flash... Second Easiest but you need a flash.
Light them in such a manner that you can properly fight the sun... Requires relatively powerful flash.

A polarizer will not help with "blown out skies" because it will cut the light equally from both highlights and shadows. A grad ND could help but you run the risk of having the upper portion of your subject underexposed because you dragged the filter down too far in the frame.

Again, you need to either shoot when the dynamic range is narrower or else move your subject to where you can better control the light. Your last and by far more problematic solution is to simply overpower the sun but you'll need gobs of light to do this.

A polarizer can remove glare or haze from the sunlight being scattered by water vapor in the air or water on the surface of leaves, or just the top of a pool/pond/lake or ocean.

I doubt any of those conditions apply to the skin of the subject. Indeed you want good lighting of the subject and you may need to even out skin tones and remove blemishes in post processing. A filter in front of the lens will not help even out skin issues.

Good deal! It's not very often that you find out you DON'T need to buy something I was under the impression that a filter would help, but I can now understand how it would cause problems for portraiture.

Thank you for the help!

Angeline outdoors