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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer heard Aldi was offering a fresh product collection that seemed comparable to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her nearest shop to purchase the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of each products look strikingly similar. And though Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK consumers state they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among younger adults, according to a February study.

Lookalikes are beauty items that mimic well-known labels and offer budget-friendly alternatives to high-end items. These products frequently have similar branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Skincare experts contend many substitutes to premium labels are good quality and aid make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily better," states skin specialist one expert. "Not every low-budget beauty label is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast about famous people.

Numerous of the products modeled on luxury labels "run out so quickly, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "These items will handle the essentials to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or a product which is quite low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and state that costlier items are occasionally worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - often the elevated price tag also comes from the formula and their standard, the concentration of the effective element, the science employed to develop the item, and studies into the item's effectiveness, she notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman suggests it's worth considering how some dupes can be priced so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she believes they might have filler ingredients that lack as significant advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The major uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Expert Scott notes in some cases he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a established label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the container," he warned.

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For more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate suggests using medical-grade labels.

She states these probably have been through costly studies to determine how effective they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company advertises about the performance of the product, it must have research to support it, "but the brand doesn't always have to perform the trials" and can alternatively reference studies done by different brands, she clarifies.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is low-quality?

Components on the back of the bottle are listed by amount. "The baddies that you should avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up