High-Street Skincare Dupes Could Save Consumers a Fortune. But Do Budget Skincare Products Actually Work?

Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out Aldi was offering a new skincare range that appeared similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue container and gold cap of both creams look remarkably similar. While Rachael has not tested the luxury cream, she states she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, according to a recent survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate bigger name labels and provide budget-friendly options to high-end items. They frequently have similar labels and design, but occasionally the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists contend many substitutes to luxury labels are reasonable quality and aid make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that costlier is invariably better," comments skin specialist one expert. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not all luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely impressive," adds Scott McGlynn, who presents a podcast about public figures.

A lot of of the products modeled on luxury brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "These items will perform the basics to a satisfactory standard."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can be problematic," she explains.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

However the specialists also recommend buyers do their research and say that higher-priced products are sometimes worth the additional cost.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just covering the label and promotion - at times the elevated price also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the science used to produce the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, the expert says.

Skin therapist she argues it's valuable considering how some dupes can be offered so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they could have filler ingredients that don't have as significant positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The big question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host McGlynn notes on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a big-name label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be fooled by the outer appearance," he added.

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For potent items or those with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she suggests sticking to research-backed brands.

She explains these will likely have been through expensive tests to determine how successful they are.

Beauty items are required to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the efficacy of the product, it requires research to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to do the trials" and can instead use studies completed by other companies, she adds.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is inferior?

Components on the back of the container are listed by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up