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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned Aldi was selling a recent product collection that looked comparable to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She rushed to her closest store to pick up the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold lid of each creams look remarkably similar. And though Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

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

Dupes are beauty items that imitate well-known companies and present budget-friendly substitutes to premium products. They frequently have alike labels and design, but sometimes the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Superior'

Skincare experts argue certain dupes to luxury brands are good quality and assist make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably better," says skin specialist one expert. "Not all budget skincare brand is bad - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," says a podcast host, who hosts a program with public figures.

A lot of of the items based on luxury brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will be effective," he comments. "These items will do the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is very inexpensive because there's minimal that can be problematic," she says.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Container'

Yet the specialists also recommend buyers check details and say that costlier products are occasionally worth the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just funding the name and advertising - at times the higher price also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the effective element, the science used to create the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, the expert says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's valuable considering how certain dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Occasionally, she states they could have less effective components that do not provide as significant benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"One major doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Expert McGlynn says sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a big-name brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding more complicated items or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist recommends using medical-grade labels.

She states these probably have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how successful they are.

Beauty products are required to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor another professional.

If the company states about the effectiveness of the item, it needs data to verify it, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead use testing conducted by different brands, she says.

Check the Back of the Container

Is there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Components on the list of the tube are arranged by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up