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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned Aldi was selling a recent skincare range that looked comparable to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her local store to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The streamlined blue container and gold cap of both products look noticeably alike. Although Rachael has not used the premium cream, she says she's pleased by the product so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a 25% of UK shoppers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to 44% among younger adults, as per a February poll.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic well-known labels and offer affordable options to luxury items. They often have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare professionals say many dupes to luxury brands are reasonable quality and aid make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think costlier is invariably more effective," comments consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable skincare brand is inferior - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are truly excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a show about public figures.

Numerous of the items based on high-end brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor believes dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a acceptable degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or something which is very low cost because there's not much that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also advise buyers do their research and state that more expensive items are sometimes worth the additional cost.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the label and marketing - often the elevated price tag also is due to the components and their grade, the strength of the effective element, the technology utilized to develop the product, and tests into the products' efficacy, she notes.

Skin therapist she says it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she says they may have filler ingredients that don't have as significant positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"One key doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Expert Scott admits on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name brand but the item has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding potent products or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises selecting research-backed brands.

The expert states these will likely have been subjected to costly studies to determine how effective they are.

Beauty products need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company makes claims about the effectiveness of the item, it requires research to support it, "but the seller doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference testing completed by different firms, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the back of the tube are arranged by amount. "The baddies that you want to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up