Ease of Use
The Primary selling point for Beauty Box is the simple automatic nature of the plugin. By clicking the Beauty Box tab in the filter menu, the program automatically generates a mask and applies a smoothing filter. Then, if you want to make changes or save your current settings as a preset, you can do so. Lastly when you are satisfied with you results you hit OK to render your image.
This grab shows where the plugin is located.
There is virtually no learning curve with Beauty Box, all of the controls are clearly visible and are divided into groups to adjust the different aspects of the filter mask. The controls adjust the various parameters of the mask. For instance, in the Advanced Mask Group you can change the Hue, Saturation and Value Range. The interface is straight forward as well, with a numeric value and an adjustment slider for most of the controls. Other control groups like the Main Controls Group just toggle on and off.
As far as plugins go, it does not get any simpler than this. For the most part, if you are happy with the initial results you can be on to the next image in two clicks
This is a side by side comparison of the original, then the auto mask, and then the final version with small adjustments made.
Depth of Options
This plugin is gloriously simple, you click the filter and it smoothes the face or skin of your subject. Yes, there are good controls to hone the mask. but that is all they do—hone. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Keep in mind that the main idea is that you "retouch" quickly. If that is the deciding consideration look no further.
Beauty Box is not a cure all. It smoothes skin; it does not remove blemishes. The auto mask makes it selections based on skin color and texture. So, if your subject has big blemishes with sharp detail it may look far more pronounced because the filter is made to recognize and retain curtain detail like eyes and hair. My point is that unless you remove these manually (clone stamp, healing brush, etc.) ahead of time, you will still not have the flawless skin you and your client may want.
