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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper found out Aldi was offering a new product collection that seemed comparable to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael rushed to her local shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The smooth blue tube and gold top of the two products look remarkably comparable. And though Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK consumers say they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a February survey.

Alternatives are skincare products that mimic bigger name labels and offer affordable substitutes to premium products. They often have comparable labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Beauty professionals argue some substitutes to high-end brands are good standard and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that costlier is necessarily superior," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget product line is bad - and not all luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," notes a podcast host, who presents a program about celebrities.

Many of the items modeled on luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he says. "They will handle the essentials to a satisfactory level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

But the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and say that higher-priced products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With high-end skincare, you're not only funding the name and promotion - often the increased cost also is due to the components and their standard, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology employed to develop the product, and trials into the products' performance, she says.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's important thinking about how certain dupes can be offered so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she says they could include less effective components that do not provide as significant advantages for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

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

Expert McGlynn admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a well-known label but the item has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

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

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For advanced products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she suggests using medical-grade companies.

The expert explains these will likely have been through costly studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare products must be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the brand advertises about the efficacy of the product, it must have data to verify it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively use testing conducted by different companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could indicate a product is low-quality?

Components on the label of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up