Southern Belle in the 'Bunk: Spring Glow.

     This is Week One for my Friday summer post series here on the blog, called Southern Belle in the Bunk. This blog series combines my love of fashion, beautiful scenic locations for fashion posts, and the fact that I'm spending this summer back in my hometown area of the Kennebunks region of Southern Maine! You can read more about the inspiration for this series in the intro post HERE, and Week One HERE! Xo

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer for Target {Sold out, Similar here} || Shoes: Nine West || Earrings: Talbots || Bracelet: c/o Stella & Dot || Lips: NYC Color Expert Last Lipstick in Forever Fuschia

     I am oh-so-excited about today's post! First off- I just cannot get over the amazing natural lighting in these photos! Lately I have been very inspired by the fashion blog Gal Meets Glam by blogger Julia Engel. If you aren't familiar with Gal Meets Glam, Julia's husband Thomas does all of her photography, and he always captures Julia in the most beautiful natural light! I guess this post was my attempt of being inspired by their photography. :-) This is also the second week of my summer series, Southern Belle in the 'Bunk. More on the location of this post later, but first for the outfit details!

    This was the second dress that I was able to score on Pink Sunday during the Lilly Pulitzer for Target launch! (I featured my other shift dress in the #LillyforTargetLinkUp that my blog bestie Michaela and I held a few weeks ago!) Despite being a self proclaimed girly-girl, I don't own that many clothing pieces that are this pink! So I was excited to score this Lilly dress at Target and bring a little bit more pink cheer into my closet. Like my other Lilly for Target dress, I was very impressed with the quality of these shifts for the price, and I thought that they fit well! 

     Since the dress is so bright and eye-catching, I paired it with a classic pair of nude pumps, delicate gold jewelry, a fun side pony hairstyle and fresh blooms from my Grandma's garden! For one last pop of color I used one of my favorite NYC Color lipsticks which perfectly matched the dress! I don't mind splurging on lip products in neutral or lighter pink/peach shades that I will wear all the time, but for very bright lip products, I always buy drugstore brands since I don't wear them as much. The Expert Last Lipsticks from NYC Color are $1.99 at the drugstore and have amazing pigmentation and last well throughout the day! They are a go-to for me when I need a bold lipstick in a specific vivid shade. (And no this post isn't sponsored at all- just me raving about a product that I love!)

     With the light and locations being so stunning in these photos, of course my photographer had to jump in a shot at the end!! This is my best friend of over 12 years, Katie! She has a passion for photography and takes a lot of my blog photos when I'm home in Maine (and this isn't the first time she's been on the blog!)

      The location:

     In the first week of Southern Belle in the 'Bunk, I did my blog shoot on the bridge over the Mousam River, one of two rivers in Kennebunk. When looking at a map of town, one can see that the Mousam River runs through the Southwestern part of town, and other river, the Kennebunk, is Northeastern of the Mousam (#geographynerd). Both rivers end up coming to meet the sea within just a few miles of each other though! 

     I thought that it would be fitting for this week's pictures to be taken where the Kennebunk River comes to meet the sea. I did them in two locations: one on a bridge similar to the bridge that I shot at on the Mousam River, and the later pictures in a small field with beautiful flowering trees near the banks of the river between Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. Katie took these pictures for me right at sunset, and I already said this, but the natural lighting was truly incredible! 

     I am luckly to be from a town that has not only ocean coastline and wonderful beaches, but also two beautiful rivers flowing through it! This might not be the last time I feature these two rivers for this post series...

P.S. Since my dress was sold out, I have linked instead some similar pink shift dresses from the regular Lilly website below!

     xoxo Miss ALK