Aldi’s anti-ageing skincare costs £220 less than its rival… but is it REALLY as good? The answer will surprise you, says skincare expert
The Lacura Vitacell range starts at £4.99, with an anti-ageing moisturiser just £6.99
MANY women aren't interested in having cosmetic surgery, but that doesn't mean they're totally happy with the ageing process.
That's where anti-ageing skincare comes in, but the problem is the products can be pricey.
Budget supermarket Aldi has once again stepped up with its premium skincare range called Lacura Vitacell, which launches in store and online today.
There's a moisturiser, eye cream and serum, and even better prices start at £4.99. So for less than a fiver you can nab the eye cream, or if you're feeling like a big spender splash out £6.99 on the other two products.
The range is being touted as touted as an alternative for the MUCH more expensive La Prairie Cellular Swiss Ice Crystal range.
The luxe beauty brand's collection includes the Cellular Swiss Ice Crystal Cream, which is £228 for 50ml - the same pot size as the Aldi product. There's also an eye cream (£172) and serum (£228) making up the range.
So can something which is over £220 cheaper really do a similar job? We spoke to Georgios Tzenichristos, a cosmetic formulator who specialises in anti-ageing ingredients, to find out.
Georgios looked at the ingredients lists of each moisturiser to see how they compared.
He explained: "All in all I would say that in terms of both actives, emollients and functionals La Prairie is better, but not hugely.
"For the price point I would expect the ultimate face cream with the absolutely most expensive ingredients, costing £2,000 and £3,000."
The expert, of LipoTherapeia, explained that the ingredients used in the Aldi cream aren't "second class", and the company could probably charge as much as £30 for its offering if it wanted to.
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La Prairie has a much longer ingredients list, and it was pointed out that it does have more things to target anti-ageing.
But a lot of each brand's makeup is actually very similar.
Georgios said: "Both creams contain emollients to moisturise the skin, functional actives for an immediate softness/plumping, and anti-ageing ingredients for long term results.
"La Prairie comes on top in the last two categories, but not by a huge margin."
And so to the million dollar question - are the two creams really that similar?
The expert said: "La Prairie is clearly a better cream, but the type of ingredients used in the concentrations used do not nearly justify the price.
"Buying this product is equivalent to buying a £10,000 Gucci bag: it's great, but you do not pay £10k for a good bag, you buy into the branding. Nothing wrong with that of course...
"I would say that overall La Prairie is clearly better, but definitely not [over] 30 times better."
The Sun Online has reached out to La Prairie for comment.
If you opt for the Aldi cream it'll leave you some cash to splash out on makeup, with sales set to soar in 2017.
Check out the answers to the most googled beauty questions here.