Gorgeous on a Shoestring

By Leonie Piper

This is a little book full of big ideas! This book has everything you need to know to help you maintain your beauty on a tight budget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780992360337

Book preview

Acknowledgements

2

Introduction

Hi, I’m Leonie and I want to share some interesting budget beauty ideas and tips with you. Yes, I know there are plenty of books, magazines and websites out there on similar subjects, but this book is different! Why you ask? It’s different because it’s not only a book of practical and affordable health and beauty ideas, but it’s a book that will hopefully excite and inspire you!

Whether you’re a stay-at-home mum, a part-time or full-time worker, or a more mature lady on a tight income, what I have to offer is beneficial to you all. You’ll be able to use these ideas for many years, share them with your friends and pass on the knowledge (and perhaps some inspiration) to your daughters and granddaughters.

One of the key philosophies for this book is this:

‘If this is how it is, then I will make the very best of it.’

Who am I to write a book about beauty ideas, you ask? Well, I’ve been a nail tech for thirty-three years, and over those years I have had some very interesting and informative conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds as I tended to their nails. I also watched and listened to my mother and grandmother who had many intriguing beauty practices and I’ve learnt a few things of my own along the way. I want to share these ideas with you!

A bit about me: I grew up on twenty-two acres of fruit growing and dairy country in a suburb of Albury, called Lavington. It was fantastic. My memories are of bare feet on unsealed roads and when the roads were sealed we would burst the bubbles in the tar on boiling hot days. We’d watch the snakes slither across the road and no one would scream ‘snake!’ as it was a pretty ordinary event.

We had a vast veggie garden. It had everything from scrumptious watermelons, rockmelons, snow peas, rhubarb and beetroot to the basic old peas, beans, carrots and spuds. I would love to have that now.

We also had a walnut tree and a mulberry tree in our yard. Mum would get so angry when we climbed that mulberry tree because getting the stains out of our clothes was impossible!

Surrounding the property were beautiful orchards of peaches, nectarines and plums. We could just meander over and pick whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. My mouth is watering, as I write this, remembering how delicious they were.

Grandma used to preserve the fruit and our pantry was full of jars of everything from the orchards. She also made lovely lemon syrup, which you just added water to for the best cold drink ever!

Looking back I realise