When I heard that Aldi had a dupe of the Pixi Glow Tonic exfoliating toner, I knew I needed to get to there quickly before they were all gone. This isn’t my first Aldi dupe: I reviewed the Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser dupe here last year (and loved it – I bought more and am still using it now!) and I’ve featured one of their GPS watches on the blog before. But an Aldi Pixi Glow Tonic dupe? I’m sold immediately!
I’ve been a bit conflicted on the topic of dupes before. I find the concept of brands using packaging and labelling that replicates the original really interesting in how it appeals to our sense of recognition, but is something you can’t help but feel slightly uneasy about. Research actually shows that people tend to prefer to buy supermarket’s own products – and I’m most definitely one of those – and surprisingly, Aldi actually comes out top. I do massively appreciate the opportunity to be able to purchase a similar product that would otherwise be out of my budget though.
In this case, I already owned the Pixi Glow Tonic after a bit of a pre-wedding panic and being persuaded that I absolutely needed it and it would make a huge difference to my skin. Had I not been getting married in a couple of months before I purchased the Pixi Glow Tonic, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. At £18, it’s not within my usual skincare budget, but the coral bottle and complimentary pale green labelling plus its cult-favourite status really appeal to my millennial aesthetic that sometimes I just can’t escape. I enjoyed using the Pixi Glow Tonic for a few weeks, but it wasn’t anything special. For the extra money I’d spent on this compared to my usual skincare budget (sorry, but it’s just not a priority for me!), I’d expected something revolutionary.
Aldi Pixi Glow Tonic Dupe Review
As such, I love the opportunity to be able to purchase a “dupe” – a very similar product – at a much lower price. In this instance, the Lacura Healthy Glow Exfoliating Toner dupe of the Pixi Glow Tonic retails at £3.99 in Aldi, a pretty big difference for something that, in my opinion, looks very similar, smells very similar and has very similar effects on my skin.
Effects
Probably the most important part, does the Lacura Healthy Glow dupe actually work?
Both products aim to exfoliate the skin gently, improve tone and texture, and brighten the skin to leave it with a healthy glow.
I tend to mix and match my exfoliating products, sometimes using ones that physically exfoliate the skin using ingredients that buff the surface, such as sea-salt or sugar scrubs, to those like Pixi Glow Tonic that use ingredients such as glycolic acid. It depends on how my skin is feeling at the time as to which I prefer to use, but generally I find exfoliaters that scrub physically to be a little more harsh by nature.
I enjoyed using the Pixi Glow Tonic when I was in the habit as it felt like it removed any leftover bits of make up and dead skin from my face, but went on smoothly and was easy to use – scrub products can be a bit messy and a bit of a hassle to use! I find it leaves my skin feeling slightly tight afterwards and I need to remember to use moisturiser otherwise it feels a little uncomfortable. I feel like this is proof that it’s activating properly.
The Healthy Glow Exfoliating Toner is very similar in this instance – it goes on smoothly, leaves my skin feeling clean, having removed any leftover make up, and also gives that slight tingle. My skin doesn’t feel quite so tight after using it, so I wonder if it’s slightly more gentle on more sensitive skin or whether it simply doesn’t have quite the same grade of ingredients as the Pixi Glow Tonic.
Ingredients
In terms of ingredients, both products boast a pretty similar list – glycolic acid, aloe and ginseng being the main ones, but in lower quantities seemingly. This makes complete sense for the price – I wouldn’t expect the dupe to have the same levels of more expensive ingredients but to retail at a lower price.
Appearance
Anyone can tell that Aldi’s Healthy Glow Toner has been made in the image of Pixi Glow Tonic. It has the same bottle shape, the same colour scheme, though with the tone of the green labelling slightly different, and the same gold accents on the labelling. As I said before, I really do find this fascinating as it’s clearly a deliberate way to get the customer to pick your product up off the shelf since it appears vaguely familiar and therefore more trustworthy. I do really like both bottles of this and think they look equally as appealing in my bathroom.
Scent
I have to admit that personally, I prefer the scent of Aldi’s version, perhaps controversially! I find the Pixi Glow Tonic to have a slight chemical smell, whereas Aldi’s scent is more flowery – some (my sister!) might say more grannyish; I say pretty and floral.
Stay tuned as I’ve got another Aldi dupe product coming up that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with!
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