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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out Aldi was launching a new product collection that looked akin to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her local outlet to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of the two products look strikingly similar. Although she has not tested the high-end cream, she states she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK consumers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, based on a recently published study.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and offer cost-effective alternatives to high-end items. These products typically have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Better'

Beauty experts argue some alternatives to high-end brands are reasonable standard and aid make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily more effective," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not every affordable beauty label is poor - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are really amazing," adds a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast featuring public figures.

Many of the products modeled on high-end labels "disappear so quickly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry argues dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the fundamentals to a satisfactory level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly affordable because there's not much that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

However the experts also recommend shoppers investigate and state that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only paying for the label and advertising - often the higher price also stems from the components and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the research employed to develop the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, Dr Belmo says.

Skin therapist another professional says it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be priced so cheaply.

Occasionally, she believes they could contain bulking agents that don't have as numerous benefits for the complexion, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

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

Expert McGlynn admits sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a established label but the item has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

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Regarding more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she suggests sticking to research-backed labels.

The expert states these probably have been through expensive tests to evaluate how effective they are.

Skincare items need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the brand makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it needs research to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead cite evidence done by other firms, she clarifies.

Examine the Label of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could indicate a item is low-quality?

Components on the label of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "Potential irritants that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up