A try at portraiture

Trying my hand at some portraiture - both of these were shot with my 70-200L ƒ2.8 at about 150mm @ ƒ2.8,

I used 2 speed lights; one in a soft box, camera right the other shot through a scrim, camera left. Did a little skin clean up work in post - the hair is really blue however.

C&C very welcome - thanks in advance for taking the time to comment.

Really nice shots, As a fellow blue haired person i know how bright it can come out the only thing i would say is that on the first shot the nose seems to blend in with the face a little along the top. which is a shame.

I like #1 better, though I'd prefer some eye contact.

#2 is just too tight at the bottom for my taste; I'd prefer to have a little bit of shoulder showing.

Lighting on both looks pretty good

For a first try these are not good but rather downright excellent.

The only critique I would add is I kind of wish she had not braided her hair. With the hair pulled into the braid, her underlying hair color is very visible in the areas where the hair is pulled away.
I probably would have raise the light to camera right another foor or so to get the shadow on her nose to be a little better. Right now, it appears as though it is at camera level and is casting the shadow directly across her face to camera left. Just looks like an odd shadow to me.
But I am not a pro, I just think it would look a little better with the light a little higher.