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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper found out Aldi was launching a fresh product collection that looked similar to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her closest store to purchase the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue container and gold lid of the two items look noticeably alike. While Rachael has not used the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a 25% of UK buyers state they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recent poll.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate bigger name labels and offer budget-friendly substitutes to premium products. They frequently have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the components can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Better'

Skincare experts say certain substitutes to premium brands are good standard and assist make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that costlier is invariably more effective," says consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every affordable beauty label is bad - and not all premium beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are really amazing," notes a podcast host, who presents a program featuring public figures.

A lot of of the items inspired by high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "They will perform the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Another skin doctor, advises you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or a product which is quite inexpensive because there's minimal that can go wrong," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

However the professionals also suggest shoppers do their research and note that costlier products are sometimes worth the additional cost.

With premium beauty products, you're not just funding the brand and marketing - often the increased price also comes from the components and their grade, the concentration of the effective element, the technology used to develop the product, and tests into the item's performance, she says.

Facialist she suggests it's valuable questioning how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they might have filler ingredients that do not provide as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"One big question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Commentator McGlynn says on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

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Regarding more complicated items or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises using research-backed companies.

She states these typically have been subjected to costly studies to determine how efficacious they are.

Skincare products must be tested before they can be sold in the UK, notes consultant dermatologist another professional.

When the company states about the efficacy of the item, it needs data to verify it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to perform the trials" and can alternatively cite studies completed by different firms, she says.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a item is poor?

Components on the label of the container are listed by concentration. "Potential irritants that you should be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up