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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell heard Aldi was offering a fresh product collection that appeared similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her local shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of both creams look remarkably similar. Although she has never tried the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been purchasing lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK buyers state they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recently published survey.

Dupes are skincare products that mimic bigger name labels and present affordable options to premium products. These products typically have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists say certain alternatives to high-end brands are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think higher-priced is invariably superior," says consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not all low-budget product line is poor - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a show with celebrities.

Many of the items modeled on high-end brands "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "These items will do the essentials to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be okay in using a lookalike or something which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the specialists also suggest consumers do their research and note that higher-priced items are sometimes worth the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not just paying for the brand and promotion - often the increased price also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the science used to develop the product, and trials into the products' efficacy, she notes.

Beauty expert another professional suggests it's valuable questioning how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they could include filler ingredients that lack as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One key uncertainty is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Podcast host McGlynn admits on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear similar to a established brand but the item has "no resemblance to the premium version".

"Do not be sold by the container," he added.

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For more complicated items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she advises sticking to medical-grade labels.

The expert explains these typically have been through costly trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items are required to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says expert another professional.

If the label states about the efficacy of the product, it requires research to support it, "however the brand does not always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively use testing done by different companies, she says.

Read the Label of the Pack

Are there any components that could signal a item is low-quality?

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