Supermarket Beauty Alternatives Could Save You a Bundle. However, Do Economical Skincare Items Perform?

Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard Aldi was selling a new beauty line that appeared akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her nearest shop to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold top of both products look noticeably comparable. Although she has not used the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK consumers report they've bought a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to nearly half among younger adults, according to a recently published poll.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate established companies and present affordable options to high-end items. They often have similar branding and containers, but in some cases the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty specialists contend many substitutes to premium labels are good standard and assist make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion more expensive is necessarily better," states dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable product line is inferior - and not all premium beauty item is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," notes a podcast host, who runs a show about celebrities.

A lot of of the products modeled on luxury labels "run out so fast, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will do the fundamentals to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're likely going to be okay in using a budget alternative or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

But the specialists also suggest shoppers do their research and say that more expensive items are at times worthy of the premium price.

With luxury skincare, you're not only funding the name and promotion - sometimes the increased price also comes from the formula and their grade, the concentration of the key component, the technology employed to create the product, and studies into the products' efficacy, the expert explains.

Beauty expert she says it's important thinking about how some alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she states they might contain less effective components that lack as significant advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The major doubt is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Commentator McGlynn admits on occasion he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known brand but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the original".

"Do not be convinced by the packaging," he warned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For advanced items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she advises selecting more specialised labels.

She explains these typically have been through expensive studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare products are required to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

When the brand makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it needs data to verify it, "but the seller does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can instead use testing completed by other companies, she adds.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Is there any components that could suggest a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up