Automatic auto-mask smoothing vs brush control - an honest look at how each retouches skin.
Beauty Box (Digital Anarchy) is a fast, automatic skin smoother - it detects skin, masks it, and softens with a few controls for $99, and it can restore some texture afterward. RetouchLab Skin Pro takes the opposite approach for €79: a brush with frequency separation, dodge & burn and tone evening, so you decide exactly where and how much, and keep real texture from the start. Cheaper, more techniques, and full control - if you want to retouch by hand rather than auto-smooth.
| RETOUCHLAB SKIN PRO ✦ | BEAUTY BOX | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €39 / 6 mo or €79 lifetime CHEAPER | $99 one-time |
| Approach | Brush - you paint exactly where MORE CONTROL | Automatic skin-tone mask + smoothing |
| Techniques | Freq sep + dodge & burn + tone MORE | Smoothing + detail sharpening |
| Skin texture | Preserved via frequency separation BETTER | Smoothed, then partially restored |
| Control | 7 sliders, targeted with a brush BETTER | Three smoothing controls, auto-applied |
| Runs in | Adobe Photoshop | Adobe Photoshop |
| Best for | Control, dodge & burn and natural texture | Fast automatic batch smoothing |
Beauty Box's strength is automation. It finds skin, builds a mask, and smooths - fast, with batch support - so for high-volume work it saves time. It even tries to bring back the pore texture that smoothing removes.
But it is still smoothing-first: the tool decides, and you tune three controls after. That works until a face needs real shaping - fixing eye bags, blotches and uneven light, which is dodge & burn, not smoothing. Beauty Box does not do that.
RetouchLab Skin Pro hands you the brush instead: frequency separation, dodge & burn and tone evening, painted exactly where you want, keeping texture from the start rather than removing then restoring it - for €79, less than Beauty Box's $99.
Both are one-time Photoshop plugins - RetouchLab is a little cheaper and does more:
RetouchLab is €79 vs $99 - and adds dodge & burn, frequency separation and full brush control, not just smoothing.
You want control over how you retouch - frequency separation, dodge & burn and tone evening, painted where you choose - and natural results that keep real texture.
You mostly want fast automatic smoothing across a lot of images, you are happy letting the plugin mask and smooth for you, and batch speed matters more than hand control.
Get it for €39 (6 months), or go lifetime for €79 - one payment, all future updates included.
GET SKIN PRO — €39 →Available on Adobe Exchange · Instant download · Works in Photoshop 2022+
Comparing other tools? See vs Portraiture, vs SkinFiner, and our full roundup of the best Photoshop skin retouching plugins.
Beauty Box automatically detects and smooths skin with a mask and a few controls. RetouchLab is brush-based: you paint exactly where you want, using frequency separation, dodge and burn and tone evening, so you keep control and real texture instead of automatic smoothing.
Yes - RetouchLab is €79 lifetime versus Beauty Box at $99, and it adds dodge and burn, frequency separation and brush control rather than smoothing alone.
No - Beauty Box is focused on automatic skin smoothing (with detail sharpening and texture restore). Dodge and burn - shaping light to fix eye bags and blotches - is one of the three techniques built into RetouchLab.
Beauty Box smooths first and can restore some texture afterward. RetouchLab uses frequency separation, which keeps texture from the start by separating it from tone, so pores stay intact while you even the skin.