MARI-CHAAAAN!

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

As Starsock pointed out, your sprite is very busy/noisy for its size: there's banding, you're trying to put a lot of shades in such a small area.
Here's an edit:

I know you weren't spriting in a particular style, but I think that there is a lot that can be learnt from the way Touhou is drawn; the stylisation is simple and clean, especially on the SD characters.
I hope it helps!