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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper heard Aldi was launching a fresh product collection that appeared similar to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her nearest store to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The streamlined blue tube and gold top of the two creams look strikingly similar. While she has not tested the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK consumers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recently published poll.

Alternatives are skincare products that mimic established brands and provide cost-effective alternatives to luxury items. These products typically have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Better'

Skincare experts say certain dupes to premium brands are decent standard and help make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think more expensive is necessarily more effective," comments consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all premium skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," says a skincare commentator, who presents a show with famous people.

Many of the products based on luxury labels "disappear so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional argues alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he explains. "These items will perform the basics to a acceptable standard."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative 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'

However the experts also suggest shoppers investigate and say that higher-priced items are occasionally worth the extra money.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just funding the brand and marketing - often the increased price also stems from the components and their quality, the strength of the key component, the research used to produce the item, and trials into the products' effectiveness, the expert says.

Skin therapist she says it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Occasionally, she believes they may have filler ingredients that don't have as numerous advantages for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The big uncertainty is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Expert Scott admits in some cases he's bought skincare items that look similar to a established brand but the item has "little similarity to the original".

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

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For advanced products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised companies.

She says these probably have been through comprehensive trials to determine how successful they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the performance of the item, it requires research to support it, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead cite testing conducted by different companies, she adds.

Read the Back of the Pack

Is there any components that could suggest a item is poor?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are ordered by concentration. "Potential irritants that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up