03 Sep 2015 Travel

Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires

Good afternoon from LA!

My husband and I got home from South America yesterday and spent the day on the couch with our cats watching netflix and just recuperating from our busy two weeks away! I’m back to work today and ready to share with you some of our travels! As you may have noticed from my previous two posts – I will be breaking this trip down over several posts instead of one large travel diary. There is just too much to share!

We began our trip in Puerto Iguazú & then made our way to Buenos Aires where we spent 3 lovely days at the Four Seasons Hotel. This was my first Four Seasons experience and it was nothing short of luxurious! Located in the cultural center of the city in the affluent Recoleta neighborhood; the area was super safe and very close to historical landmarks, great restaurants, and shopping. All of Buenos Aires feels like different parts of Europe but Recoleta is all Paris!!!

I fell in love with everything about the hotel upon arriving. The hospitality and service were absolutely amazing, every recommendation the concierge made for our nights out were a slam dunk! An equestrian theme runs throughout the Four Seasons Buenos Aires beginning with a gorgeous sculpture on the front lawn which is even more beautiful at night. Splashes of blue are found throughout the lobby representing the sky of Buenos Aires as well as the Argentine flag – the lobby was my favorite place in the building because I loved the color palette so much. We stayed in a mansion-view junior suite where we had stunning views of the city as well as the largest avenue in the world: 9 de Julio. Our suite was super spacious with separate living and sleeping areas each with large balcony-like windows – directly above the hotel’s heated Roman-style pools.

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28 Aug 2015 Style

Travel Style | Buenos Aires

¡Buenos dias!

One thing about Argentina I was super excited for was opposite seasons! It was the tail end of winter during our stay in Buenos Aires and the temperature felt amazing — I always miss Michigan like crazy during the fall and those are the types of feels I was having. Buenos Aires purposely feels like Europe and is known as the Paris of South America so I made sure to pack a couple chic coats to look and feel good during my stay. You’ll notice that I forgot closed toe shoes though haha oh well! Be sure to head over to Waseem‘s blog too to check out his full look, enjoy!

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27 Aug 2015 Travel

Iguazú Falls|Sheraton Iguazú Resort & Spa|Argentina

Las Cataratas del Iguazú is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and was an amazing place to begin my first trip to South America! To clear up any confusion over nomenclature – the falls are located on the border between Brazil and Argentina; Internationally, they are known as Iguassu Falls but locally they are named Cataratas del Iguazú in Argentina & Cataratas du Iguaçu in Brazil.

The falls are easily accessible from either country and the border is a very quick and easy journey as long as your visas & paperwork are all squared away. We flew into Foz do Iguaçu International Airport in Brazil and crossed the border into Argentina straight from the airport via taxi. You will need a visa to enter Brazil; the cost for Americans is $160 but luckily, it is good for 10 years. While Argentina doesn’t require a literal visa, there is a reciprocity fee of $160 which is also valid for 10 years. You will not be able to pay the Argentinian fee at the border so be sure to get it done online ahead of time and have your printout ready. Aside from the visa and reciprocity fees, the rest of our journey to Iguazú Falls was pretty easy and we totally had luck on our side. We landed in Brazil around 6pm and were in our cab within an hour. We headed over to the taxi line and asked about a flat rate to our hotel across the border in Argentina. We paid about $40 USD. Our driver drove us to a station to get our Brazilian exit stamp and even escorted us inside; we then drove over to the border and were able to pass very quickly and easily. We were traveling on a Monday evening and there was no line at all. Very simple; It felt very much like crossing the US border into Canada. The whole journey airport to hotel was about 45 minutes. 

We stayed at the Sheraton Iguazú Resort & Spa in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. The ultra convenient thing about this hotel is that it is inside the Iguazú National Park so starting our day the next morning was very easy and convenient. Our time in Puerto Iguazú was limited so the little time-saves really added up. Sheraton guests are required to pay the entry fee for the park as we enter the grounds to get to the hotel – but remember how luck was on our side?? No one was at the booth and the gate was open! The concierge even said that we were fine as long as we stay in the park. Woop! I believe the entry fee is about $23 USD per person.

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18 Aug 2015 Beauty

Travel Makeup | Minimal Products

What day of the week IS it?! Ahhhh I’ve been running around like a crazy person. I’m leaving for Miami in less than 24 hours and I need to shop, pack, and who knows what else! I’m going to be gone for about two weeks and I’m so excited and stressed out at the same time. From Miami I’ll be going to Ohio for a wedding, back to LA for a few hours to leave for Brazil and Argentina later that night! o_0 Yikes! Feeling super overwhelmed but super blessed at the same time – it’ll be my first time in South America (or the southern hemisphere at all!) and I can’t wait! If any of you have been to either country – please leave me some tips and must-sees (& must-eats!!). Also, please make sure you’re following me on Instagram and Snapchat where I’ll be sharing everything!! #irenesarahtravels

snapWhen I travel I try my hardest to take as little makeup as possible.. You guys know I layer and layer and layer when I go full glam but I always end up breaking products or leaving things in hotel rooms when I’m living out of a suitcase. So today I’ve created for you a look with just a few products and even fewer brushes – I also used drugstore foundation because I get paranoid about taking the pricy stuff through TSA. *Regina George voice* Is foundation a liquid?!

Enjoy dolls!

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16 Aug 2015 Beauty

Husband Does my Voiceover | Makeup Tutorial

Hi Guys!

Sorry for the incomplete posts this week!! I have a busy two weeks of traveling coming up so I’ve been running around like a headless chicken and while I didn’t have time to get these product lists at 100% I didn’t want to delay posting videos that were ready to go – so if you checked here earlier, so sorry that i forgot all the eye products! Butttttt thanks everyone for all of the wonderful feedback so far – the video’s only been up a few hours but the love has been pouring in.. THANK YOU!! Waseem & I did the Husband Does my Makeup Tag awhile ago, so today we were going along that same idea but with a twist! We share our home “office” so I often do my voiceovers with him in the room and he’s constantly mocking and imitating me lol so birthed the idea of Husband Does my Voiceover. If there are any other goofy couples you know of on the internets.. send them my video to “tag” them to create their own!

Mwah, enjoy!

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