I feel like you have a few too many islands here and there that you are combining now Personally i start with eyes, mouth and the nose, and then grow outwards from there, the jaw/cheek is an area that sorta grows naturally out of these circular shapes
The issues you are seeing are rather from internal triangulation than anything else. I mean you have a few different mesh resolutions clashing here, there is only so much you can do. The position where the loops join make sense but its too many 5 star poles in the same spot. Would have to play with it on a computer to…
@Neox It's not a basemesh. I'll try introducing some triangle, but sparingly! =) @okidoki That actually worked well! The shading artifact is now much reduced and there's one less pole so the topology looks much cleaner. Thank you @"Eric Chadwick" I'll check it out. Thanks
I think you could be working on features in isolation, rather than holistically. And this makes things much more difficult. Similar to trying to sculpt in high-res without refining low, and increasing gradually. I would suggest starting with a low mesh, and complete all the loops, before adding complexity.