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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer heard Aldi was selling a recent product collection that seemed akin to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She dashed to her local outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml cream.

Its sleek blue packaging and gold lid of both items look strikingly alike. Although she has not tested the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

She has been using lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a fourth of UK shoppers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, based on a February study.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate bigger name labels and offer affordable substitutes to high-end items. These products typically have alike labels and design, but sometimes the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts say certain substitutes to luxury labels are decent standard and assist make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion more expensive is always superior," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not every low-budget product line is inferior - and not all high-end beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," adds a skincare commentator, who runs a program featuring celebrities.

Numerous of the items based on luxury brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry argues alternatives are suitable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will be effective," he comments. "They will do the essentials to a acceptable level."

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

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in using a budget alternative or something which is quite affordable because there's not much that can be problematic," she says.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

Yet the specialists also recommend buyers do their research and note that costlier items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the name and advertising - often the increased price tag also is due to the components and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the technology utilized to develop the item, and trials into the products' performance, Dr Belmo says.

Facialist another professional argues it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Occasionally, she states they could have less effective components that do not provide as many benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"One major uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott admits in some cases he's bought skincare items that look similar to a big-name label but the item has "little similarity to the luxury product".

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

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For advanced items or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to medical-grade companies.

She states these typically have been through comprehensive studies to evaluate how effective they are.

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

When the brand advertises about the efficacy of the item, it needs research to verify it, "but the seller does not always have to do the trials" and can alternatively reference studies done by different companies, she adds.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

Is there any components that could indicate a product is inferior?

Components on the back of the bottle are arranged by quantity. "The baddies that you need to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up