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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell heard Aldi was selling a fresh product collection that looked akin to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her closest shop to buy the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold lid of each creams look strikingly similar. Although Rachael has not used the premium cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

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

More than a quarter of UK shoppers report they've bought a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recently published study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name brands and present budget-friendly substitutes to premium items. They frequently have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare specialists argue certain dupes to luxury labels are reasonable standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is always better," says skin specialist one expert. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely amazing," says a skincare commentator, who hosts a podcast about celebrities.

A lot of of the products based on luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he says. "They will do the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a dupe or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

But the specialists also recommend shoppers check details and note that higher-priced products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only funding the brand and advertising - at times the increased price tag also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the science utilized to create the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, Dr Belmo explains.

Facialist another professional argues it's valuable considering how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they could contain bulking agents that lack as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One major uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Expert Scott notes on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear similar to a well-known label but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Do not be sold by the packaging," he warned.

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Regarding potent items or those with components that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised companies.

The expert explains these will likely have been through comprehensive trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the effectiveness of the product, it needs data to back it up, "however the brand doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can instead reference testing done by other brands, she says.

Check the Label of the Container

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

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