Hi, I am an absolute beginer on this.   I would really appreciate your feedback.   

I don't like the result but I am not sure where im going off.

thank you in advance.

original:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72232510@ … otostream/

After:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72232510@ … otostream/

One thing to always have in mind is that with dodge and burn you're accentuating features. Whatever you make brighter it will appear closer to the camera and whatever you darken  will recede. That's how you create shape and in the case of the image you retouched, you made her features look puffy. She wouldn't want to see herself with puffy cheeks and a big forehead.

Also by darkening the eyes you made her eyes look bigger and not in a nice way. Go back and forth between the original and the retouched version and you'll see how the eyes look harsh and uninviting.

The goal with this image is to make her look softer. You really can't use that much dodge and burn in a portrait like that. It's not beauty nor fashion.

As a beginner its best to watch some tutorials for skin retouching and gradients because none can help you on this level except yourself, learning and experiencing

You need to spend some time on learning how and where to retouch. This quick 5 minute contouring doesn't qualify as retouching per say.

Invest time in learning how to dodge and burn, and spend atleast a couple of hours on this.

"Here's lookin' at you!" she's saying. The extreme contrast between solid white in eye and dark brown/black eyes makes them look staring and with no contour.

Spend time looking at retouching in magazines - the ads toward the front are the high end. Ads toward end of magazine are cheaper ones and see the difference. Also observe people in real life and see how there are gradients, transitions between colors. Some people's eyes do have more highlight and shadow than others but some.

Are y ou working on raw files? Or low-res jpgs. Jpgs you're going to have a hard time on because not so much information is there.

As others say, tutorials! The Kelby One, Lynda.com have some good courses. YouTube you need to know what you're doing - some really old, really bad techniques can be found by the unwary on YouTube. Unless you find a tutorial by a retoucher who everybody knows like Lindsay Adler for example.