I think the nose is supposed to be flat on his face and not stick out like in your edit.
i had (still do a bit) problems reading the face, because of its flatness, i read the nose as an eye at first. i think monkey's edit is going the right way.
I would recommend making the nose more horizontal than vertical, but the sprite would probably lose some of its style.
Just make the nose a lighter color and make the eye a darker color and make it pop out more.