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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard Aldi was launching a new product collection that looked akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her local store to buy the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The sleek blue tube and gold top of each creams look strikingly similar. Although Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

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

More than a quarter of UK buyers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, according to a recently published poll.

Dupes are beauty items that copy bigger name companies and provide cost-effective substitutes to luxury products. These products often have similar labels and design, but in some cases the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Better'

Beauty specialists say certain substitutes to luxury labels are reasonable quality and aid make skincare cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably more effective," states skin specialist a doctor. "Not every budget product line is inferior - and not all premium beauty item is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really excellent," says a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast featuring famous people.

Many of the products modeled on high-end labels "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor believes dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will do the basics to a acceptable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or a product which is quite inexpensive because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

However the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and state that higher-priced items are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only covering the brand and marketing - at times the elevated price also comes from the formula and their quality, the strength of the key component, the science used to produce the item, and studies into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's valuable considering how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they might contain less effective components that do not provide as many positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"The key doubt is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

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

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Regarding potent products or ones with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises sticking to research-backed brands.

She explains these typically have been subjected to comprehensive tests to assess how successful they are.

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

If the brand advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it must have data to verify it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to perform the trials" and can instead use studies done by other brands, she says.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could signal a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the label of the container are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up