High-Street Beauty Lookalikes Could Save Shoppers Hundreds. But Do Budget Skincare Products Really Work?
Rachael Parnell
Upon hearing one shopper learned Aldi was selling a new skincare range that looked akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".
The shopper dashed to her nearest store to pick up the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.
Its streamlined blue container and gold cap of the two products look remarkably alike. And though Rachael has not tested the high-end cream, she says she's pleased by the product so far.
Rachael has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for a long time, and she's not alone.
Over a 25% of UK buyers say they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, according to a February poll.
Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name labels and offer cost-effective substitutes to high-end items. They frequently have alike branding and containers, but occasionally the components can change significantly.
Victoria Woollaston
'Costly Is Not Always Better'
Beauty professionals say some dupes to high-end labels are good standard and help make skincare more affordable.
"It is not true that costlier is always superior," says skin specialist one expert. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."
"Certain [dupes] are absolutely impressive," notes a podcast host, who runs a podcast about celebrities.
Many of the items based on high-end brands "run out so quickly, it's just crazy," he says.
Scott McGlynn
Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.
"Alternatives will be effective," he says. "They will perform the basics to a satisfactory standard."
Ketaki Bhate, advises you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.
"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can be problematic," she says.
'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'
But the experts also advise consumers do their research and note that more expensive items are sometimes worth the extra money.
Regarding high-end beauty products, you're not only funding the label and marketing - at times the higher price also stems from the ingredients and their standard, the concentration of the active ingredient, the research used to create the item, and studies into the item's effectiveness, the expert explains.
Beauty expert Rhian Truman suggests it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.
Occasionally, she believes they may include filler ingredients that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.
"The key question mark is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.
Commentator McGlynn says on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".
"Do not be sold by the container," he warned.
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Regarding potent products or those with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist advises selecting medical-grade companies.
The expert says these will likely have been through comprehensive tests to assess how effective they are.
Beauty products need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.
If the company makes claims about the efficacy of the item, it must have research to back it up, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to perform the trials" and can alternatively use studies done by different brands, she adds.
Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle
Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is poor?
Components on the label of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up
