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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out Aldi was offering a new skincare range that appeared similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest outlet to buy the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml item.

Its smooth blue container and gold lid of each items look remarkably alike. Although she has not used the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been purchasing skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK buyers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, based on a recent study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic bigger name brands and provide affordable substitutes to luxury items. These products frequently have alike names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals contend many alternatives to luxury brands are good quality and assist make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably superior," comments dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all low-budget beauty label is bad - and not every luxury beauty item is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds Scott McGlynn, who presents a show featuring famous people.

A lot of of the items modeled on high-end brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he explains. "These items will do the essentials to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, advises you can save money when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in using a lookalike or something which is very affordable because there's not much that can be problematic," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

Yet the specialists also suggest buyers do their research and note that higher-priced products are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not just funding the label and promotion - often the elevated price tag also is due to the formula and their grade, the concentration of the effective element, the technology used to produce the item, and tests into the item's performance, the expert notes.

Facialist she says it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they might contain less effective components that do not provide as significant positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"One big doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott notes on occasion he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a big-name label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be sold by the outer appearance," he warned.

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For more complicated products or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises selecting more specialised brands.

She says these probably have been through expensive tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare items are required to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company makes claims about the effectiveness of the item, it requires data to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can instead use studies completed by other brands, she clarifies.

Check the Back of the Bottle

Is there any components that could indicate a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the container are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up