More beauty for fewer $$: Israeli discount cosmetic chains

Ladies - do you remember buying drugstore-brand makeup in the old country? Cosmetics of decent (and even better) quality that didn't cost a king's ransom, so you didn't feel too guilty buying a variety of products to supplement your makeup kit?

Well, the cosmetics in the local drugstores (even with coupons) are still on the expensive side. But in the past few years, some really good, local alternatives have sprung up to expensive brand-name makeup, cosmetic products and toiletries. And unlike discount products purchased online from abroad, you don't even have to wait a month for them to arrive in the mail, because they're available at storefronts all over Israel.

Using Shopping Coupons in Israel

Going shopping with coupons here in Israel isn't quite the experience you may have become used to back in the old country. The market is much smaller here and the competition will never be what it is in a country with many times the population of ours. I don't expect ever to make out like the pros on Extreme Couponing do, where people manage to buy hundreds of dollars' worth of merchandise for a pittance. But as Israelis become savvier shoppers and more demanding customers, coupons have been slowly entering the market and it's possible, with proper planning, to shave quite a few shekels off your grocery bill each week.