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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell found out Aldi was launching a new skincare range that appeared similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael hurried to her local outlet to purchase the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its sleek blue tube and gold cap of the two products look strikingly alike. And though she has never tried the premium cream, she states she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a February study.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and offer budget-friendly alternatives to luxury products. They typically have comparable names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists argue certain dupes to premium labels are decent quality and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is necessarily more effective," comments dermatology expert a doctor. "Not every budget product line is poor - and not all premium beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," adds a podcast host, who hosts a program about celebrities.

Many of the items based on high-end brands "run out so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he says. "These items will do the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or a product which is fairly affordable because there's not much that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Packaging'

However the professionals also recommend consumers investigate and state that higher-priced items are occasionally worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not just paying for the name and advertising - at times the elevated price also stems from the components and their grade, the strength of the active ingredient, the science utilized to create the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Skin therapist she says it's important considering how certain dupes can be sold so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she believes they might contain less effective components that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The major uncertainty is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Commentator Scott admits on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear similar to a big-name label but the item has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the packaging," he warned.

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For more complicated products or those with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she suggests selecting research-backed brands.

She says these will likely have been subjected to costly studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare products must be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the label makes claims about the effectiveness of the item, it must have data to verify it, "but the seller does not always have to conduct the trials" and can instead reference testing completed by different brands, she clarifies.

Examine the Back of the Bottle

Is there any components that could signal a item is low-quality?

Ingredients on the back of the tube are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up