If there's one thing Aldi has become known for in recent years, it's their impressive dupes of expensive branded products. Following the success of their familiar looking beers and caterpillar chocolate cakes, the budget chain has now set its eyes on the make-up industry with its new Lacura range.
The £2.99 Perfectly Nude lipstick has been a big talking point on TikTok, with social media users claiming it's an 'excellent' dupe for Charlotte Tilbury's Pillow Talk - which costs £26. While the Cashmere Glow Luminous Foundation (£5.99) has been likened to Armani's £45 Luminous Silk Foundation.
Aldi's new range also features the Girl Gone Bad Mascara, an eyeshadow quad, eyeshadow primer, a lip liner, concealer and a lip gloss.
Curious to see whether the products are worth the hype they've been getting online, we asked a professional make-up artist to put them to the test and the results were pretty surprising.
Mahina Quadri, who posts on Instagram as @mahinaartistry, has been working as a make-up artist in London for the last 10 years and is incredibly clued up on all things beauty.
She headed to The Mirror office to test out the products and work her magic on my face, using my own make-up brushes and just the seven new items from the Lacura range.
Interestingly, she wasn't opposed to the cheap make-up and shared her thoughts as she applied each piece, starting with the Cashmere Glow foundation.
Mahina agreed that Aldi's one looked a lot like the Armani foundation, in terms of the packaging and the way it dries down onto the skin, as she herself was wearing the high-end Luminous Silk and felt they looked quite similar.
She branded it a good option for "quick everyday" use due to the price, but the expert wasn't impressed by the lack of shade options Aldi currently offer, as the foundation is only available to buy in six different shades. In comparison, Armani's range has 40 shades.
"It went on really nice, really smooth," she said. "It was matte at the beginning but gave a glow towards the end which was good, but because of the shade range I personally wouldn't be using it unless they put more in. There's only six shades and I know they definitely wouldn't have my shade as I'm very neutral.
"The foundation looks similar to Armani's Luminous Silk, but it's not just about looks, longevity here is key. If the make-up doesn't last, then the money has gone to waste.
"If it lasts five hours, it's an ok foundation, but if it only lasts three hours then it's not good. And if it starts to look patchy... save yourself."
Next up was the eyeshadow quad palette and eyeshadow primer, which are both priced at £3.99.
"I absolutely loved the matte eyeshadows, they went on really nice, but the shimmer was not giving," Mahina continued
"When you put it on, you can see it, but it's not as pigmented as I thought it would be, there's just a slight glow.
"The eyeshadow primer had a little bit of shimmer which I thought was quite cool as I haven't come across one that has that before, so I quite liked that. If you're going to use the eyeshadow though, definitely use the primer first as it helped."
The pro also wasn't a massive fan of the Girl Gone Bad mascara (£5.99), which to her looked a lot like a Benefit dupe, but didn't meet her expectations.
"The mascara was giving the length, but it dried too quickly and I wasn't able to manoeuvre it," she explained.
"When I do mascara, especially when I'm not doing [false] lashes, I like to do layers, so when the first layer dried within seconds and I hadn't placed it, it's difficult.
"I'd probably pick it up if I can't find the actual mascara that I like, as it gave the length, but other than that..."
But it wasn't all bad and there were two items from the collection that really impressed Mahina - and she'd even use them herself.
She was a big fan of the Perfectly Nude lip gloss and the matching lip liner (£2.99 each), explaining: "I loved the lip gloss, the lip gloss was absolutely amazing, it shined, it was giving and it didn't have a sticky feeling as usually when it has a sticky feeling it's not really comfortable on the lips, but this went on really smooth, so I really like this.
"The lip liner is like a creamy consistency and I know any lip liner that has a creamy consistency will last as it dries down to be matte."
However, she did note there was one issue with the liner, that it will likely be "a bit difficult" to sharpen it after use due to the shiny outer packaging.
And last but not least we came to the lipstick.
I recently spent an entire day wearing the lipstick and found that the colour lasted an incredibly long time, staying on for 10 hours, but the product did massively dry out my lips.
For £2.99 I still thought it was a bargain though and well worth a try, but Mahina wasn't convinced.
"The colour is pretty, but Courtney previously tried it on and said it was drying. We like to be comfortable so if it's drying then it's a no from me."
She added: "The collection I would say it's ok, I feel like you can use this if you need to quickly go out. It's not something you could wear and your make-up would last the whole day.
"I'd definitely say it's good for going out to the shop, or nipping somewhere, but it's not make-up for a night out.
"If you wore this on a night out, your make-up will slip. It will."
And she's not wrong, after several hours wearing the Aldi products, I found that the mascara had started to transfer around my eyes in little black clumps and it felt dry and uncomfortable. My face had also become very shiny, with the foundation being completely lost in my T-zone area.
Without blush or highlighter in the range, Mahina improvised and applied a little of the eyeshadow to my cheeks to create the full look. The matte shade used as blush stayed on quite well, but the shimmer didn't last on my cheekbones.
The lip gloss and lip liner however were the stand outs from the collection as Mahina predicted. They lasted for hours, looked great and didn't feel sticky or uncomfortable - and they didn't dry out my lips like the lipstick. Clearly, the expert knows best.
Would you try the new Aldi make-up range? Let us know in the comments below.
