Yes the flare is intentional, washed the image out a bit. Converted with BibblePro5. Nothing special, no photoshop yet...
If I were there again, I would not have clipped her chin. Shot at about 5pm in full sun.
She has a nice expression. I think you already noted the image short-comings, mainly that she's very washed out. I don't think the flare adds to the image (IMHO), but that's your artistic license. I'm less bothered by the cropped chin -- for me, it works.
I am not familiar with Bibble and don't know what its capabilities are, but this image could be improved quite a bit by setting the black point higher and increasing the mid-tone contrast. The flare and missing chin are lesser problems, IMO.
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