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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer found out Aldi was launching a recent skincare range that appeared comparable to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper dashed to her closest store to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue container and gold top of each creams look strikingly alike. And though she has not tested the premium cream, she states she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a 25% of UK shoppers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This increases to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recently published study.

Alternatives are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and present budget-friendly options to premium products. These products typically have alike labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts say some alternatives to luxury labels are good standard and help make skincare less expensive.

"It is not true that more expensive is always superior," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not all affordable skincare brand is poor - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

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

Numerous of the items modeled on luxury labels "run out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the essentials to a satisfactory degree."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in using a lookalike or a product which is very low cost because there's not much that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Packaging'

Yet the professionals also advise consumers investigate and note that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the label and marketing - at times the elevated price also comes from the components and their grade, the strength of the key component, the science used to develop the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, the expert notes.

Facialist Rhian Truman suggests it's valuable questioning how some dupes can be sold so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she says they might have less effective components that don't have as many benefits for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

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

Expert McGlynn admits sometimes he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a well-known label but the item has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be convinced by the container," he added.

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Regarding more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests sticking to medical-grade brands.

The expert explains these typically have been subjected to expensive tests to determine how successful they are.

Beauty products need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, notes consultant dermatologist another professional.

When the label states about the performance of the item, it must have data to support it, "but the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to do the trials" and can instead reference testing conducted by other companies, she adds.

Check the Label of the Pack

Are there any components that could indicate a product is low-quality?

Components on the back of the container are ordered by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up