How do you soften an image using photo editing software?

I use Photo Impact Pro.I think the basic features of all major photo editing software are the same.So if I am taking a closeup shot of face,How do I soften up the image, On my software, the only think I see is section from toolbar called "Blur" and it has subsections like Gaussian,Edge preserving Blur etc etc.Do I need to look for something else ?
Thanks, ccm for the offer, actually it was a general question, I need to learn how to do it myself for the future

Photo Impact Pro

http://www.novadevelopment.com/Products/us/urw/default.aspx

Tutorials

http://www.novadevelopment.com/Support/Tutorials/upw/default.aspx

try duplicating layer and using gaussian blur for whole image or selection,

layers info

http://kb.novadevelopment.com/al/12/1/article.aspx?aid=1485&tab=browse&bt=4&r=0.5944525

http://kb.novadevelopment.com/display/4/kb/browse/cat.aspx?cid=1227&kb=1&L1cid=1227&level=2&r=0.7416711#cat_1227

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