🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell found out Aldi was selling a new skincare range that looked similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest outlet to pick up the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold lid of the two items look strikingly alike. While she has not tested the luxury cream, she states she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

More than a 25% of UK buyers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This increases to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, according to a February study.

Dupes are skincare products that copy established labels and present budget-friendly substitutes to luxury items. These products typically have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Better'

Beauty professionals say some substitutes to high-end brands are decent quality and aid make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is necessarily better," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget product line is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," says a skincare commentator, who presents a show featuring public figures.

Numerous of the items modeled on high-end labels "disappear so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he says. "These items will handle the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is very inexpensive because there's not much that can go wrong," she says.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

However the experts also suggest shoppers check details and note that higher-priced items are at times worthy of the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just covering the brand and promotion - at times the increased price also stems from the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the science used to develop the item, and tests into the item's performance, she explains.

Skin therapist another professional argues it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she believes they might contain filler ingredients that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

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

Expert Scott notes on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a big-name label but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Don't be fooled by the packaging," he added.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For advanced items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises selecting more specialised brands.

The expert says these will likely have been subjected to expensive trials to determine how efficacious they are.

Skincare items are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says expert another professional.

If the company makes claims about the performance of the item, it must have evidence to back it up, "however the brand doesn't always have to do the testing" and can instead reference studies done by different brands, she clarifies.

Read the Back of the Container

Is there any components that could signal a item is inferior?

Components on the label of the tube are ordered by concentration. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up