🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out Aldi was offering a new beauty line that appeared akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

The streamlined blue tube and gold lid of each products look strikingly comparable. While she has never tried the high-end cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

She has been using lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recent survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that mimic established brands and present affordable options to high-end items. These products typically have alike labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts argue many substitutes to luxury labels are good standard and help make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is invariably superior," states skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable skincare brand is inferior - and not every premium skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are truly excellent," says a podcast host, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

Numerous of the items inspired by luxury brands "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional argues dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he explains. "These items will perform the basics to a satisfactory level."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

Yet the professionals also suggest shoppers investigate and note that higher-priced items are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

With premium beauty products, you're not only paying for the brand and marketing - at times the increased price also comes from the components and their standard, the strength of the key component, the research employed to develop the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, the expert explains.

Skin therapist she suggests it's valuable questioning how certain dupes can be priced so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she believes they might have bulking agents that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

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

Podcast host Scott admits on occasion he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be convinced by the container," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

Regarding more complicated products or those with components that can inflame the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends selecting medical-grade brands.

The expert says these probably have been through comprehensive studies to determine how successful they are.

Skincare items are required to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company makes claims about the efficacy of the item, it must have research to back it up, "however the brand doesn't always have to do the testing" and can instead reference studies completed by other companies, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up