Using vector masks to blend layers

I selected a portion of a forehead and copied it to a new layer. I then made some changes to the new layer with the Liquify tools and now want to blend the copied layer back with the original layer. I create a vector mask on the layer and I begin painting the edges of the new layer with black to blend it back with the layer underneath. Although I see the results, I am not entirely clear on what it is doing.
1. By painting with black is this just esentially erasing parts of this new layer to allow the layer underneath to show through? Is it actually doing any sort of blending or is it just erasing the masked layer?
2. How is this different from just using the eraser tool to erase the modified layer and letting parts underneath show back?
Thanks.

A mask isn't all or nothing.  Grayscale accomplishes partial blending.
Knowing that, you can paint white or black on a (pixel) layer mask with a fuzzy-edged brush and have nice blending.
-Noel

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    Kind of hard to recreate the unseen, but maybe this example will help.
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    rcraighead wrote:
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