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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out Aldi was offering a new product collection that looked comparable to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her closest store to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

Its smooth blue container and gold cap of each items look remarkably similar. And though she has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a recently published study.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate established brands and present cost-effective substitutes to high-end products. These products typically have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the ingredients can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Better'

Beauty specialists say some alternatives to high-end labels are good standard and help make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily more effective," comments dermatology expert one expert. "Not every low-budget product line is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who presents a show with celebrities.

Many of the items inspired by luxury labels "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry argues alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will serve a purpose," he comments. "They will do the essentials to a reasonable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she says.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

However the professionals also recommend consumers check details and say that costlier products are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the brand and marketing - sometimes the elevated price tag also comes from the components and their grade, the potency of the active ingredient, the science used to create the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, she says.

Beauty expert she says it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be sold so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they might have bulking agents that lack as significant benefits for the complexion, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"One big uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott says sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a established brand but the product itself has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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For potent products or ones with components that can inflame the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises using research-backed labels.

She states these typically have been subjected to costly tests to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare products need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the brand states about the efficacy of the product, it must have evidence to back it up, "however the manufacturer does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference testing conducted by different brands, she adds.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any components that could suggest a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the label of the container are arranged by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up