Different things made me create this picture, first i wanted to play with mirror and lenses, my first tests were quite crazy and i eventually calmed down to some more conventional composition.
I also wanted to make a girl face based on some bengal drawings (exemple here, more works here).
And of course the aim was also to improve my texturing/shading/lighting skills, so i decided not to use HDRI or SSS. A great help came from S. Stahlberg for the skin shading, giving fast and nice results.
The hair was quite a challenge too, i had the opportunity to try many technics, and to fail many times too, the good old polygon was the best choice in the end.
It also my very first image using VRay, quite fast, but also limited in features for compositing.
About the nude stuff, well that's how i wanted it, sorry it it disturbs you.
It's made with Max 6, VRay and After Effects 6.