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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer learned Aldi was launching a fresh beauty line that looked akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael dashed to her local store to purchase the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of both products look strikingly comparable. And though she has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

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

More than a fourth of UK consumers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to 44% among younger adults, as per a recently published survey.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and provide cost-effective alternatives to luxury products. These products often have similar labels and design, but in some cases the formulas can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

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

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily more effective," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all luxury skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes a podcast host, who hosts a show about public figures.

A lot of of the products based on luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he says. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in using a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's not much that can go wrong," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Box'

Yet the professionals also advise shoppers check details and state that more expensive items are at times worth the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only covering the label and promotion - sometimes the higher price also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the key component, the technology used to develop the item, and trials into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo notes.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they could contain bulking agents that do not provide as many advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"The key doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Podcast host Scott notes on occasion he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a established brand but the item has "no connection to the original".

"Don't be sold by the container," he warned.

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Regarding more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to medical-grade companies.

The expert says these will likely have been through costly tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products must be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it must have data to verify it, "but the seller doesn't necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can instead cite studies completed by different firms, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the list of the container are listed by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up