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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard Aldi was offering a fresh skincare range that looked similar to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She dashed to her local shop to pick up the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of both creams look remarkably alike. Although she has not tested the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK buyers say they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a February study.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy bigger name companies and provide budget-friendly alternatives to high-end items. These products often have comparable branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Skincare experts argue certain dupes to high-end labels are decent standard and aid make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably better," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not every affordable skincare brand is inferior - and not all premium beauty item is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are truly excellent," says a podcast host, who presents a show featuring famous people.

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

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will do the job," he comments. "These items will perform the essentials to a reasonable degree."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or a product which is quite affordable because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

Yet the specialists also suggest shoppers do their research and note that higher-priced products are at times worth the premium price.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just funding the label and marketing - at times the elevated price tag also comes from the components and their grade, the strength of the effective element, the research employed to create the product, and tests into the item's efficacy, the expert explains.

Beauty expert another professional suggests it's valuable considering how certain alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she states they could contain less effective components that lack as many advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

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

Commentator Scott says sometimes he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

"Do not be sold by the packaging," he warned.

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For potent products or those with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist advises using research-backed companies.

The expert says these typically have been through comprehensive studies to assess how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

When the label makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it needs evidence to support it, "but the seller does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively reference studies completed by other companies, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is poor?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are listed by amount. "Potential irritants that you should avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up