I have to admit it: I need help with Color

Yes, I think we need to step back and talk about white balance, exposure and color casts.

I have a photovision target card, but anything with a white/black/middle grey that is designed for this will help a ton.

I set the white balance in camera, or use the image with the eyedropper after in lightroom to get to where the white balance should be.

Do you have the camera set to auto white balance or a static one like daylight or cloudy?

White balance only works well when you 1. set the exposure correctly first, and then 2. use the target card (or your method of choice) to set the custom white balance.

I love my color checker passport, but you're simply not going to have the opportunity to use it with every photo. Especially ones that are already taken.

In mixed lighting it might give you an average WB but with 3D forms, casts on one side vs the the other might not be accounted for.

yes, of course! Go for it!

since you are concerned about consistency from image to image, and are feeling that these two images seem so different, lets start with an area that should be close color.

I put the eyedropper sample spots out there just to mark areas so I can hit the same spot time after time. I have the eye dropper sample set on 11x11 pixels.

compared to the above numbers, these (from the third pic you posted) represent a big color shift and will definitely put you into the "these don't look the same" category

1 = 41/73
2 = 53/47

the image is too yellow, not enough red/magenta

what I consider to be more important is the fact that 100 mm focal length permits a shooting distance which gives a more natural perspective to the face

top is result of setting new shadow values above.

below the green line on the right I have manually bumped the RGB values in the mid tones in the same way they were bumped with the automatic process. The reason for this adjustment is because the values we are concerned with in the subject are closer to the mid tones and quarter tones than the shadows. I also brought down the highlights in the overall RGB channel because I felt they were too hot. On the left is the original.

bonus content, hope you don't mind me appropriating your image, ksbal.

another great reason why having a grey card is no substitute for knowing how to push the numbers around ... cool, neutral, warm