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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned Aldi was offering a new product collection that appeared akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her local shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its sleek blue container and gold top of the two items look noticeably comparable. Although she has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the alternative so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recent poll.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate established labels and present cost-effective options to high-end items. They often have comparable labels and design, but sometimes the components can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts say some substitutes to high-end brands are good standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"In my opinion higher-priced is always more effective," states dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable skincare brand is bad - and not all premium beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a program about celebrities.

Numerous of the products based on high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will do the job," he comments. "These items will perform the essentials to a satisfactory level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be okay in using a dupe or something which is very inexpensive because there's minimal that can go wrong," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the specialists also advise shoppers check details and say that higher-priced items are sometimes worth the additional cost.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just paying for the name and promotion - at times the higher price also stems from the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the key component, the science used to develop the product, and trials into the item's efficacy, she explains.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's important considering how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they may include less effective components that lack as many advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The big doubt is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Expert Scott says sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a big-name label but the item has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Do not be fooled by the packaging," he cautioned.

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For more complicated items or ones with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she suggests sticking to more specialised companies.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive studies to determine how efficacious they are.

Skincare items are required to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label states about the effectiveness of the product, it needs evidence to support it, "however the manufacturer does not always have to perform the trials" and can instead reference evidence done by different firms, she adds.

Check the Back of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a item is low-quality?

Components on the label of the tube are arranged by quantity. "The baddies that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up