PP with freckles

[dtscds]

It seems so easy. You have a wonderful tool like PhotoShop. You take the image from the camera and put it into PS, hit a few buttons here, drag a slider there and out pops an image that would make the big boys cry (in a good/envious kinda way).
Okay, so what's wrong with me?! I don't know if I have ever post processed an image that made me really happy. Especially skin!!!! It doesn't matter how little I do the skin always comes out too red/orange.
So, these are a few from the last Belle's workshop in Abilene. The model has freckles. Not a problem since I don't want everyone to have perfect skin and be the Madison Ave. ideal. How do I make her look her best without making her plastic? I DL'd the Imagenomics trial and it does pretty good. But, how do I maintain her skin tone natural when I finish with the PP? Is there something I should avoid when dealing with skin or is it just inherently difficult?
I guess what I am looking for is tips from those experienced in the ways of skin.
These are straight from RAW. In ACR I adjusted white balance and added "moderate contrast"
Thanks

[HotHolly]

Wow! You got a lot more freckles than I did. I PMed you back that skin effect. If I have a sec I can post a sample with one of these images.

[HotHolly]

Here is a quicky dirty sample of the skin thing I sent you. With her freckles so pronounced in these images - it just softens them a bit.

[RaymondShay]

One option...

[DJ.]

Holly, I really like your softened but natural look. Nice job.