🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

When one shopper found out Aldi was offering a recent beauty line that seemed akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her closest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold top of the two products look remarkably alike. While Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to 44% among 18-34 year olds, as per a recently published survey.

Dupes are skincare products that copy well-known labels and present affordable options to high-end products. These products frequently have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty experts contend certain dupes to high-end brands are good standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is invariably more effective," comments consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not all luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

Many of the items based on high-end labels "sell out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will be effective," he explains. "They will perform the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can save money when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in using a dupe or something which is very inexpensive because there's very little that can be problematic," she explains.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Container'

However the specialists also advise consumers check details and note that higher-priced products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding high-end beauty products, you're not only paying for the label and promotion - at times the elevated price tag also is due to the ingredients and their grade, the concentration of the effective element, the research used to produce the product, and tests into the item's performance, she notes.

Beauty expert she says it's valuable thinking about how certain dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she states they may contain filler ingredients that don't have as many positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"One big uncertainty is 'How is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott notes in some cases he's purchased beauty products that look similar to a established label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be convinced by the container," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For advanced items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate advises selecting more specialised brands.

She states these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare items must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

When the brand advertises about the efficacy of the product, it needs research to verify it, "but the brand doesn't necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively use studies completed by different companies, she adds.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Components on the label of the tube are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up