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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out Aldi was selling a new beauty line that looked similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She dashed to her local store to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its sleek blue container and gold lid of the two creams look strikingly alike. And though she has not used the luxury cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been buying skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for years, and she's in good company.

Over a 25% of UK buyers state they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recent survey.

Dupes are skincare products that mimic bigger name labels and offer budget-friendly options to premium products. They frequently have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Superior'

Beauty specialists say some dupes to high-end brands are reasonable quality and help make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is always better," says skin specialist one expert. "Not all affordable product line is bad - and not all premium skincare product is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely impressive," says a podcast host, who runs a program about public figures.

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

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he says. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a satisfactory degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Box'

But the experts also advise shoppers do their research and note that costlier items are occasionally worth the premium price.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just paying for the name and promotion - often the higher price also is due to the components and their standard, the potency of the effective element, the science utilized to produce the product, and tests into the products' efficacy, she says.

Facialist she says it's important questioning how some dupes can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they may include bulking agents that don't have as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"One key uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Podcast host Scott notes on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

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

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Regarding more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist suggests sticking to research-backed brands.

The expert states these probably have been through expensive studies to determine how efficacious they are.

Beauty products need to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, notes expert another professional.

If the brand advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires data to verify it, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead cite studies done by different brands, she says.

Read the Back of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the container are listed by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up