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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned Aldi was launching a fresh skincare range that looked comparable to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her local outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of each products look strikingly alike. Although Rachael has not tested the high-end cream, she states she's pleased by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers report they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a recent study.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic established companies and provide cost-effective alternatives to high-end products. These products typically have similar labels and design, but sometimes the formulas can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Beauty experts say certain dupes to luxury labels are reasonable standard and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think costlier is necessarily more effective," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not all budget skincare brand is poor - and not every luxury beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a show about famous people.

Many of the products modeled on luxury labels "run out so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will be effective," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can save money when searching for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is fairly low cost because there's not much that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

However the professionals also advise shoppers investigate and state that more expensive items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With premium beauty products, you're not only funding the brand and promotion - often the increased cost also stems from the components and their standard, the strength of the key component, the technology employed to produce the item, and tests into the products' performance, she notes.

Facialist she argues it's valuable questioning how certain alternatives can be offered so cheaply.

Occasionally, she says they might include less effective components that don't have as many benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The big uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a big-name label but the item has "little similarity to the luxury product".

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

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For potent products or those with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises selecting more specialised brands.

She says these will likely have been through expensive trials to assess how effective they are.

Skincare items need to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it must have research to verify it, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can instead use testing done by different brands, she says.

Check the Label of the Bottle

Are there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Components on the list of the tube are ordered by concentration. "The baddies that you want to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up