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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell found out Aldi was selling a new skincare range that seemed akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael dashed to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its smooth blue container and gold cap of both creams look strikingly similar. Although she has never tried the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

She has been purchasing lookalike products from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK buyers state they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, as per a February survey.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy established labels and provide affordable substitutes to premium products. These products typically have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the components can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Beauty experts contend certain substitutes to luxury labels are good quality and help make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is always superior," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all affordable product line is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the best."

"Some [dupes] are truly excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a show featuring public figures.

Many of the items inspired by luxury labels "run out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

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

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly affordable because there's minimal that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

But the specialists also suggest consumers investigate and say that more expensive products are occasionally worthy of the premium price.

With premium beauty products, you're not only funding the name and advertising - sometimes the increased cost also comes from the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the effective element, the science utilized to create the product, and studies into the products' performance, the expert notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman says it's valuable thinking about how certain dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she says they may contain filler ingredients that don't have as significant positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One key uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott admits sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a big-name label but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he added.

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For potent products or those with components that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she advises sticking to research-backed brands.

She says these probably have been through comprehensive tests to determine how successful they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, says consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the label makes claims about the efficacy of the item, it needs evidence to back it up, "but the brand doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference evidence completed by other brands, she clarifies.

Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is low-quality?

Components on the list of the container are arranged by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up