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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned Aldi was offering a recent skincare range that seemed akin to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper rushed to her local shop to purchase the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml product.

The streamlined blue tube and gold cap of both items look noticeably similar. While Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

More than a fourth of UK buyers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This increases to 44% among 18-34 year olds, based on a recently published poll.

Dupes are skincare products that mimic established brands and present cost-effective substitutes to high-end products. They often have comparable labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty professionals say some dupes to premium labels are reasonable quality and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily superior," states dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not all high-end beauty item is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who runs a show featuring famous people.

Numerous of the products modeled on high-end brands "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can save money when searching for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or something which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging'

But the specialists also advise shoppers do their research and note that more expensive items are sometimes worth the premium price.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just funding the name and advertising - at times the higher cost also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the research utilized to create the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Facialist she suggests it's valuable considering how certain alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

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

"The big doubt is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Expert Scott says sometimes he's bought beauty products that look similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be fooled by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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Regarding potent products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she suggests using research-backed companies.

She explains these probably have been subjected to expensive trials to determine how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, explains expert another professional.

If the label advertises about the performance of the product, it must have evidence to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively cite testing completed by different firms, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any components that could indicate a item is poor?

Components on the label of the container are listed by amount. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up