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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned Aldi was offering a recent skincare range that looked similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper dashed to her local shop to buy the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold cap of the two items look remarkably alike. Although she has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK consumers state they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to 44% among younger adults, according to a recent study.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate well-known companies and provide cost-effective options to luxury items. These products typically have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the components can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Beauty specialists argue some dupes to luxury labels are good standard and help make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is necessarily more effective," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every budget skincare brand is poor - and not every premium beauty item is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," adds a skincare commentator, who presents a program about famous people.

Numerous of the items modeled on luxury labels "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes alternatives are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he says. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, advises you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the professionals also suggest buyers do their research and note that higher-priced products are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just funding the label and promotion - at times the higher cost also comes from the components and their standard, the concentration of the key component, the science used to create the item, and trials into the products' performance, she notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman suggests it's important thinking about how some dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she believes they may contain bulking agents that don't have as significant advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

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

Commentator Scott admits in some cases he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name brand but the item has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Do not be fooled by the packaging," he cautioned.

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Regarding potent products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate suggests sticking to research-backed companies.

She states these will likely have been subjected to expensive trials to assess how efficacious they are.

Beauty items are required to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert another professional.

If the label states about the effectiveness of the item, it must have research to back it up, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively use studies completed by other companies, she clarifies.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

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

Components on the back of the tube are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up