Grocery Store Beauty Lookalikes Can Save Shoppers a Bundle. However, Do Budget Skincare Products Perform?

Rachael Parnell

When a consumer heard Aldi was selling a new product collection that looked comparable to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She dashed to her local store to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The smooth blue tube and gold cap of both creams look strikingly alike. Although she has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK shoppers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, based on a February study.

Alternatives are beauty items that copy established labels and present budget-friendly substitutes to luxury items. These products often have alike labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare specialists say certain dupes to high-end labels are reasonable quality and assist make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is invariably better," states consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not every high-end skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes Scott McGlynn, who runs a program featuring famous people.

A lot of of the items inspired by luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he comments. "They will perform the essentials to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can save money when seeking simple-formula items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in using a dupe or something which is very inexpensive because there's minimal that can go wrong," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the specialists also recommend shoppers do their research and state that higher-priced products are sometimes worth the extra money.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not only covering the brand and advertising - at times the higher price tag also stems from the components and their grade, the concentration of the key component, the technology utilized to produce the item, and tests into the item's efficacy, Dr Belmo explains.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's valuable questioning how some dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

In some cases, she states they could include less effective components that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

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

Podcast host Scott admits in some cases he's bought beauty products that look similar to a big-name brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the original".

"Don't be convinced by the container," he cautioned.

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Regarding potent products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises selecting medical-grade brands.

She explains these typically have been subjected to comprehensive tests to determine how effective they are.

Skincare items need to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it must have data to verify it, "but the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite testing completed by different companies, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

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

Components on the label of the container are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up