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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer heard Aldi was offering a recent product collection that looked akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper hurried to her closest store to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold lid of the two creams look strikingly comparable. And though she has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for some time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK consumers state they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent study.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate bigger name companies and present affordable options to premium products. They frequently have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare specialists say many substitutes to high-end labels are decent quality and aid make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is invariably better," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all budget skincare brand is bad - and not all premium skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," says a podcast host, who presents a program about famous people.

Many of the products modeled on luxury brands "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor thinks dupes are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he says. "These items will handle the essentials to a reasonable level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's not much that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

However the specialists also recommend consumers check details and state that costlier products are occasionally worth the extra money.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just funding the name and promotion - sometimes the higher cost also stems from the components and their quality, the potency of the active ingredient, the technology used to develop the item, and trials into the products' effectiveness, she says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's important considering how certain dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she states they could contain filler ingredients that lack as many positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The key uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Commentator Scott admits on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the luxury product".

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

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For more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to medical-grade labels.

She states these typically have been subjected to comprehensive tests to assess how successful they are.

Skincare products must be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor another professional.

If the company advertises about the efficacy of the item, it must have data to support it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can instead cite studies conducted by different brands, she adds.

Read the Back of the Container

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

Ingredients on the list of the tube are listed by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up