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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard Aldi was selling a recent beauty line that appeared akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest outlet to purchase the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The sleek blue container and gold cap of both creams look remarkably similar. Although she has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's impressed by the product so far.

She has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers report they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, as per a February poll.

Dupes are skincare products that copy well-known brands and present affordable alternatives to luxury items. They frequently have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the components can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty experts contend certain alternatives to high-end labels are good quality and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily superior," states skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are truly amazing," notes a skincare commentator, who presents a show about famous people.

Numerous of the products based on high-end labels "sell out so quickly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor thinks dupes are suitable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "They will perform the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when seeking simple-formula products like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or a product which is very inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the experts also recommend consumers investigate and say that costlier products are at times worthy of the premium price.

With luxury beauty products, you're not just funding the brand and advertising - at times the higher price tag also is due to the formula and their standard, the concentration of the key component, the research used to develop the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, she explains.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's worth considering how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she says they may have less effective components that do not provide as significant advantages for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

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

Expert Scott says sometimes he's bought beauty products that look similar to a well-known label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the premium version".

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

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Regarding advanced products or ones with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends using medical-grade companies.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive tests to assess how successful they are.

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

If the label states about the efficacy of the product, it needs evidence to back it up, "however the seller does not always have to perform the testing" and can instead use evidence conducted by other firms, she clarifies.

Check the Back of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the list of the container are ordered by amount. "Potential irritants that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up