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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer found out Aldi was selling a new beauty line that seemed similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her closest store to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

The sleek blue packaging and gold top of both items look remarkably similar. Although Rachael has not used the premium cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been using lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

More than a fourth of UK shoppers state they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, according to a recently published survey.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate bigger name labels and offer cost-effective substitutes to luxury items. They frequently have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Skincare experts argue many substitutes to premium brands are decent standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that higher-priced is invariably more effective," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not all high-end beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely excellent," adds a podcast host, who runs a podcast about celebrities.

Many of the items modeled on high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry believes dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will be effective," he explains. "They will handle the fundamentals to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in using a lookalike or a product which is very low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

However the professionals also suggest consumers do their research and state that costlier products are sometimes worth the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only covering the label and promotion - often the increased price also comes from the components and their grade, the strength of the effective element, the science used to develop the product, and studies into the products' performance, the expert explains.

Beauty expert another professional says it's valuable thinking about how certain alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she states they could have filler ingredients that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One big question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott says in some cases he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the item has "little similarity to the original".

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

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Regarding advanced items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to medical-grade companies.

She says these will likely have been through costly studies to assess how effective they are.

Beauty products need to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

If the brand states about the efficacy of the item, it needs research to support it, "however the manufacturer does not always have to conduct the testing" and can instead cite testing conducted by different brands, she adds.

Check the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up