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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer heard Aldi was offering a recent beauty line that seemed similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper hurried to her nearest store to pick up the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of the two creams look remarkably similar. Although Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she states she's impressed by the product so far.

She has been using beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This rises to nearly half among younger adults, as per a February survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that copy bigger name labels and provide budget-friendly substitutes to high-end products. These products frequently have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the formulas can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Superior'

Beauty experts contend many dupes to high-end labels are decent standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily better," says consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not all luxury skincare product is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," says a podcast host, who presents a podcast with famous people.

A lot of of the products based on high-end labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes alternatives are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will serve a purpose," he says. "These items will handle the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, advises you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be fine in using a lookalike or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

However the specialists also advise buyers investigate and note that more expensive products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

With luxury skincare, you're not just covering the name and marketing - sometimes the elevated cost also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the key component, the technology employed to produce the product, and trials into the item's efficacy, Dr Belmo says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's valuable questioning how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she believes they could include less effective components that don't have as numerous advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The key doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's bought beauty products that look similar to a big-name label but the product itself has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Do not be sold by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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For potent items or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends selecting more specialised labels.

The expert states these typically have been subjected to expensive studies to assess how successful they are.

Beauty products need to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company makes claims about the performance of the product, it must have research to support it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite testing completed by different brands, she clarifies.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could signal a item is poor?

Ingredients on the back of the container are listed by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up