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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell heard Aldi was offering a fresh beauty line that appeared comparable to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her local shop to purchase the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of the two items look noticeably comparable. Although Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a fourth of UK buyers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This increases to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recently published study.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name labels and present affordable substitutes to high-end items. These products often have alike names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals say certain substitutes to luxury brands are good standard and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion higher-priced is invariably more effective," comments consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every budget product line is poor - and not every high-end skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are really impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

Many of the items modeled on luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he comments. "They will perform the essentials to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, suggests you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in using a dupe or a product which is very affordable because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

But the experts also advise shoppers investigate and say that more expensive products are sometimes worth the additional cost.

With high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - at times the higher price tag also comes from the formula and their quality, the strength of the key component, the research used to produce the product, and studies into the item's efficacy, the expert notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman suggests it's worth considering how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they may contain filler ingredients that do not provide as significant positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The key question mark is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Expert Scott notes on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a big-name label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

"Do not be fooled by the packaging," he added.

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Regarding advanced products or those with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she recommends selecting more specialised companies.

The expert says these probably have been subjected to costly tests to assess how successful they are.

Skincare items must be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert another professional.

When the label advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it requires research to support it, "but the manufacturer doesn't always have to do the trials" and can instead cite testing completed by different firms, she clarifies.

Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the container are arranged by amount. "The baddies that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up