Uh, never mind, apparently my understanding of ambient occlusion was way off the mark. I was actually referring to the areas surrounding her eyes being lit up by a glow.
I love the glowing eyes. They remind me of those 3D video game models with specific textures marked as “unaffected by shadow” and thus are always at 100% brightness regardless of lighting. This makes them look like they’re glowing. The same principle seems to be in effect here; even though there’s no ambient occlusion going on, it still makes the eyes appear to glow.
