🔗 Share this article Grocery Store Beauty Dupes Might Save Shoppers Hundreds. Yet, Do Affordable Skincare Items Actually Work? Rachael Parnell Rachael comments with certain dupes she "fails to see the difference". When one shopper found out Aldi was launching a recent product collection that appeared akin to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited". The shopper rushed to her local store to pick up the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml cream. Its sleek blue container and gold cap of each products look strikingly alike. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she states she's satisfied by the product so far. Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's not alone. More than a quarter of UK shoppers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recent survey. Alternatives are beauty items that copy established brands and present affordable options to luxury products. These products frequently have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the formulas can differ significantly. 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 say many alternatives to luxury brands are decent quality and aid make skincare cheaper. "It is not true that costlier is necessarily superior," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not all affordable skincare brand is bad - and not all high-end beauty item is the best." "Some [dupes] are absolutely impressive," adds a skincare commentator, who hosts a program with famous people. Many of the products modeled on luxury brands "run out so rapidly, it's just crazy," he says. Scott McGlynn Podcast host Scott McGlynn states a few budget products he has tried are "great". Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers. "Dupes will serve a purpose," he explains. "These items will perform the basics to a acceptable standard." Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can save money when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane. "When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds. 'Don't Be Influenced by the Container' However the specialists also recommend buyers do their research and note that higher-priced items are occasionally worthy of the premium price. Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only covering the name and marketing - at times the increased cost also stems from the components and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the research utilized to create the item, and studies into the item's efficacy, the expert notes. Skin therapist another professional says it's important thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so inexpensively. Sometimes, she believes they may contain less effective components that lack as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as carefully selected. "One key uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she says. Expert Scott notes sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a big-name label but the item has "no resemblance to the luxury product". "Don't be fooled by the container," he added. SimpleImages/Getty Images The dermatologist recommends choosing established labels for items with components like vitamin A or vitamin C. For potent items or those with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she suggests selecting medical-grade brands. She explains these will likely have been through expensive tests to determine how efficacious they are. Skincare products need to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth. When the brand makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it needs evidence to back it up, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can instead reference evidence completed by different companies, she clarifies. Read the Ingredients List of the Container Is there any ingredients that could suggest a item is inferior? Components on the back of the bottle are ordered by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up