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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out Aldi was offering a fresh product collection that looked similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest store to buy the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

Its sleek blue container and gold lid of both products look noticeably comparable. Although Rachael has not tested the luxury cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a fourth of UK consumers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, based on a February survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name labels and offer affordable alternatives to premium products. They frequently have alike names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts say certain substitutes to premium labels are good quality and help make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion costlier is always superior," states dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not all luxury skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really excellent," notes Scott McGlynn, who presents a program with famous people.

Many of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "These items will handle the essentials to a reasonable degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or a product which is fairly affordable because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

But the experts also suggest shoppers do their research and say that higher-priced items are at times worthy of the extra money.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just covering the label and promotion - sometimes the increased cost also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the active ingredient, the science utilized to develop the product, and studies into the products' effectiveness, she explains.

Beauty expert she suggests it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she says they may have filler ingredients that don't have as numerous benefits for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One big doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott notes on occasion he's bought beauty products that look comparable to a big-name brand but the item has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the outer appearance," he added.

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For potent items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to research-backed companies.

The expert says these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to assess how successful they are.

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

When the brand states about the performance of the item, it must have research to back it up, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can instead use testing completed by different firms, she says.

Check the Label of the Bottle

Is there any components that could indicate a item is poor?

Components on the list of the bottle are ordered by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up