‘I went shopping for Aldi’s viral candles - and saved hundreds of pounds with their dupes’

These range from designer perfumes such as Baccarat Rouge, Jo Malone, and Prada, to luxury hair care products and skin cream.

Fortunately, so-called ‘dupes’ from UK supermarkets are trending on social media, helping bargain-hunters find a cheaper version of a luxury product.

Our reporter, Sophie Mei Lan, went on the hunt for the latest dupes from her local Aldi in preparation for her summer holiday.

It appears candles aren't just for Christmas, with shoppers hunting for the best summer candles. Brands such as Jo Malone, Sol De Janeiro, and The White Company all have a range of sunny scents.

"I need this candle before my holiday," exclaimed my friend Becky as she picked me up to do some last-minute holiday shopping on the Sunday before I go away.

I had been planning to buy some sunscreen, travel games, a waterproof phone protector, and some snacks for the journey.

Becky, however, had sown the seed in my head that we now needed this candle too.

We could then pack at home with the aroma of “holiday candles,” diffusing around the house before we travelled.

Better still, Becky had spotted on TikTok that Aldi do ‘dupes’ of a range of luxury candles, including a Sol de Janeiro-inspired candle.

If I like a scent, I like a scent. I tend to want the perfume, the spray, the body lotion, and sometimes even the hair spray.

If I'm not layering a perfume with a matching body lotion, it feels like I'm wearing amazing trainers without any socks.

I know first-world problems. I don't like getting many dupes that go on my skin, but for candles, I'm there.

It doesn't just stop at personal care products either, because you can get matching candles too. As my daughters love Sol De Janeiro body spray and cream, I knew they’d love us having a candle dupe.

We checked out our closest Aldi store to see if they have the coconut-scented candles or other dupes.

Normally, Jo Malone and Sol De Janeiro candles retail for around £50 to 60 for a standard-sized candle, although you can buy travel-size versions for just under £30 per candle.

Aldi candles, however, cost from £1.99 to £9.99. After sniffing our way around the store and getting distracted by the Special Buys aisle, we finally stumbled on some candles.

We found Jo Malone dupes galore, including their pomegranate candle and perfume, and lime, basil, and mandarin candle and scents.

The perfumes only cost £6.75 compared to £56 for a 30ml bottle. We couldn't find the coconut candle, but we did find body spray called ‘tropical essence’ for £3.99, which looked similar to Sol de Janeiro.

A lot of the candles were sold out. As the staff had never seen the coconut ones my friend spotted on Tiktok, we decided to shop for other items.

All was not lost as we had spotted a whole array of dupes for our holidays.

Aldi’s Lacura skincare range is similar to Liz Earle and Estée Lauder products.

Lacura has its own version of Liz Earle's cleanser, which costs £3.49 as opposed to Liz Earle’s £33. I also got a Charlotte Tilbury style Flawless Filter foundation.

I don't usually wear foundation, but I thought it would be nice to try on the odd occasion. My daughters have already got the Tilbury ‘magic cream’ dupe from Primark.

I spotted the Lacura moisture shampoo and conditioner that looked similar to the more expensive Aussie range. That went in my trolley too.

As always, I picked up a range of random Special Buys from the centre aisles such as a travel tray for my daughter, some new sandals, and a poncho beach towel.

While browsing the shop, we continued searching online for the candle dupes to no avail.

Fortunately, there were plenty more products that caught our eyes. I bought some Jo Malone style diffusers for £3.99 each. They would normally cost £74.

I also picked up some Lacura suncream, which is similar to Nivea but around 80 per cent cheaper. I also spotted Aldi's Lacura SPF50+ sensitive sun lotion, which recently received a 'Great Value' award from Which? for its affordability and effectiveness.

The Aldi version is £2.99 compared to £33.60 for the branded version.

My final dupes were at the checkouts when I spotted travel-size perfumes for £1.99.

Aldi’s Prism is a dupe of Prada, which would normally cost £60. Aldi’s Lacura Cardinal Red is a dupe of Baccarat Rouge, normally starting from £155, and Lacura’s Perfect Pink, which is a dupe of Miss Dior, which costs around £115.

I paid at the checkout for my shopping, which, if I had bought the designer and branded versions, would have cost hundreds of pounds more.

Since Sunday, my friend has been hunting at Aldis all across Yorkshire, buying other dupes but she didn’t find the coconut candle. I asked Aldi UK online if the latest viral dupe candle was US only, and they confirmed you can only buy it in the US currently.

Lesson learned when consuming content. Check the location.

Now Becky’s next mission before her trip is finding Toffee Nut Latte sachets, as most places have sold out, and Nescafe has confirmed there’s a shortage.

Fortunately, I’m not fussy. I had already bought some Aldi cappuccino sachets instead.