Break with tradition

You're achieving a nice mood and her expression to begin with really helps create that. But I like the direction you're taking it in order to enhance the moodiness. I'm not convinced by the execution. Due to what I assume is the enhanced blurring you've done, you've gone some heavy outlining especially along the left side (her left) or her face, separating the cheek from the hair. You've also created a sort of halo around the outside of her head, along where her hair meets the background. Her blurred hair may also be a bit too much, looking more unnatural than simply part of the mood. But her eyes and face tell a lot of the story, and I think the clock she's wearing as well as the choice of her dress help design this into an interesting and evocative portrait.

Fred G writes," Due to what I assume is the enhanced blurring you've done, you've gone some heavy outlining especially along the left side (her left) or her face, separating the cheek from the hair".  I don't see any blurring in those areas but the gray transition tones between her cheeks and hair look fairly natural to me (only Chuck can tell us if he did anything in those areas).  Her dark hair seems to be doing what dark things do-- absorb light, and thus the gray tones in the aforementioned areas.  For me, this image is sweet and a bit spooky with a dash of "steampunk" thrown in.

Thank you both for commenting. I wanted to produce a nice portrait of this girl. She tends not to smile while she is modeling and when I saw this shot I wanted to do a little work on it to produce that nice portrait I was after. I used a HDR emulating filter to get some detail in her hair and her face and used a layer mask to get a blend that I liked.