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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard Aldi was offering a new product collection that appeared akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She rushed to her closest store to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

Its smooth blue tube and gold cap of the two products look remarkably alike. And though she has not used the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers say they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent survey.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate established companies and offer affordable substitutes to luxury products. They often have similar names and packaging, but sometimes the formulas can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Better'

Beauty professionals say many dupes to luxury labels are reasonable standard and assist make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is necessarily better," comments dermatology expert a doctor. "Not every affordable beauty label is poor - and not every premium skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely impressive," adds a podcast host, who presents a show with celebrities.

A lot of of the items modeled on luxury brands "run out so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional believes dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "They will perform the basics to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or something which is quite affordable because there's very little that can go wrong," she says.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also recommend buyers check details and say that more expensive items are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only funding the brand and marketing - sometimes the higher price also is due to the components and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the research utilized to develop the item, and tests into the item's effectiveness, she explains.

Beauty expert she suggests it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she states they might contain bulking agents that don't have as numerous benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"The major uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the premium version".

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

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For more complicated products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate suggests using more specialised companies.

She says these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to determine how successful they are.

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

When the company advertises about the performance of the product, it must have research to verify it, "but the brand doesn't necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can instead reference studies conducted by different brands, she says.

Read the Back of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up