This is what an eye your more recent image looks like at full resolution, which to me looks less than optimal. The skin and hair is overly smoothed and there is a halo of overly sharp pixels along edges. The grainy image in your first example looks much better to me because the hairs and skin details are visible. You should be using 1:1 zoom when doing the detail work.
Here is the "Original" size of your more recent image:
All sizes | Monarch Celebration Portrait | Flickr - Photo Sharing!