🔗 Share this article High-Street Skincare Dupes Could Save Shoppers a Bundle. But Do Affordable Beauty Products Actually Work? Rachael Parnell She says with some lookalikes she "cannot distinguish the difference". After discovering a consumer found out Aldi was offering a recent product collection that appeared akin to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited". She dashed to her closest store to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item. The sleek blue tube and gold lid of both items look remarkably similar. While she has never tried the high-end cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far. She has been using skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company. More than a 25% of UK shoppers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This jumps to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, as per a February study. Alternatives are beauty items that copy established labels and offer budget-friendly options to high-end products. These products typically have alike branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can change substantially. Victoria Woollaston Luxury vs budget: One brand's 50ml face cream is priced at £240, while the supermarket's recent Lacura face cream is £8.49. 'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Superior' Skincare specialists contend many dupes to luxury labels are decent standard and assist make skincare cheaper. "In my opinion more expensive is necessarily more effective," states dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all affordable beauty label is poor - and not all premium skincare product is the best." "Certain [dupes] are really excellent," adds a skincare commentator, who presents a program about public figures. A lot of of the products modeled on high-end labels "disappear so quickly, it's just crazy," he says. Scott McGlynn Skincare expert Scott McGlynn states a few budget products he has used are "fantastic". Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry believes dupes are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes. "Dupes will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will do the basics to a satisfactory level." Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient. "When you're purchasing a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or something which is quite inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she says. 'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box' Yet the specialists also recommend shoppers investigate and note that costlier products are at times worth the additional cost. Regarding premium skincare, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - often the higher cost also is due to the formula and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the research used to produce the item, and tests into the products' efficacy, the expert says. Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's important questioning how certain dupes can be offered so at a low cost. Sometimes, she believes they might include filler ingredients that don't have as numerous advantages for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected. "One key question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks. Commentator Scott admits in some cases he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the luxury product". "Do not be convinced by the packaging," he cautioned. SimpleImages/Getty Images An expert advises opting for more specialised brands for products with ingredients like retinol or ascorbic acid. Regarding advanced items or those with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised labels. The expert states these will likely have been subjected to expensive studies to evaluate how effective they are. Beauty items are required to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth. If the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it needs data to support it, "but the seller does not always have to do the testing" and can alternatively use studies done by other brands, she adds. Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle Is there any components that could indicate a product is poor? Components on the list of the container are ordered by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up