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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper found out Aldi was selling a fresh beauty line that looked similar to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her nearest store to pick up the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

The smooth blue tube and gold cap of the two products look noticeably alike. While she has never tried the high-end cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK consumers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent study.

Dupes are skincare products that copy bigger name labels and provide affordable substitutes to high-end items. They often have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Superior'

Beauty professionals contend some alternatives to luxury brands are reasonable quality and help make skincare less expensive.

"I don't think higher-priced is invariably better," says consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all high-end skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are really impressive," notes a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

A lot of of the items inspired by high-end brands "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional argues alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for simple-formula products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in using a dupe or a product which is quite affordable because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

But the experts also recommend buyers do their research and say that more expensive products are occasionally worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not just covering the name and advertising - at times the higher price tag also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology utilized to create the item, and trials into the products' performance, the expert says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman suggests it's important considering how some alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she states they could include less effective components that don't have as significant benefits for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"One big doubt is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be sold by the container," he cautioned.

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For potent items or ones with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she advises using medical-grade labels.

The expert explains these typically have been subjected to comprehensive studies to assess how effective they are.

Skincare products are required to be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it must have evidence to back it up, "however the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to perform the testing" and can instead cite testing completed by other firms, she says.

Check the Back of the Bottle

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

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