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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper found out Aldi was selling a new product collection that appeared comparable to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She dashed to her local store to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its sleek blue container and gold cap of the two items look strikingly comparable. Although Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, according to a February survey.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic established companies and provide budget-friendly options to luxury products. They often have similar labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals argue many dupes to high-end brands are good standard and assist make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily better," comments consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget product line is bad - and not all premium skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are really amazing," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a podcast with public figures.

A lot of of the items modeled on high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "They will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is fairly affordable because there's very little that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

However the experts also recommend buyers do their research and state that more expensive items are occasionally worth the extra money.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the name and advertising - sometimes the increased cost also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the key component, the technology used to produce the product, and tests into the item's performance, the expert says.

Facialist Rhian Truman argues it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they might have bulking agents that lack as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The major doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a established label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the original".

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

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For advanced products or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate suggests sticking to medical-grade brands.

She states these will likely have been through comprehensive trials to determine how efficacious they are.

Skincare products are required to be tested before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the brand advertises about the effectiveness of the item, it needs research to support it, "however the manufacturer does not necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively cite testing done by different brands, she says.

Examine the Back of the Container

Are there any components that could suggest a item is low-quality?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by concentration. "The baddies that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up