High-Street Skincare Lookalikes Could Save Shoppers Hundreds. However, Do Budget Skincare Products Really Work?

Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell found out Aldi was launching a new product collection that looked similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her local store to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.

Its sleek blue tube and gold cap of both items look strikingly comparable. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK consumers say they've bought a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, according to a February study.

Lookalikes are beauty items that copy established companies and provide budget-friendly alternatives to luxury products. These products often have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare professionals argue some alternatives to luxury brands are good quality and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"It is not true that costlier is invariably better," comments dermatology expert one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is bad - and not all premium beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," adds a skincare commentator, who hosts a program with famous people.

A lot of of the items inspired by high-end brands "disappear so quickly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor believes dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "They will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a dupe or a product which is very affordable because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

But the experts also suggest buyers do their research and state that more expensive items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not only covering the brand and advertising - often the elevated price also is due to the components and their grade, the strength of the effective element, the science employed to develop the product, and trials into the products' efficacy, she notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman argues it's valuable thinking about how certain alternatives can be offered so cheaply.

Occasionally, she states they may have filler ingredients that don't have as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"One key doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Commentator McGlynn notes in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known label but the item has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be sold by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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For advanced items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised companies.

She states these probably have been through comprehensive studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare items are required to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert another professional.

When the company makes claims about the performance of the item, it must have data to support it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead reference testing done by other companies, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the label of the tube are arranged by quantity. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up