You know I’m a lover of luxury. With my pstaples in my daily wardrobe being 95% Ralph Lauren. It’s quite easy to imagine that every outfit is curated with at least one designer piece. From Mulberry handbags to Louboutin heels it’ll come as absolutely no surprise that these items have a price tag for a reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a good bargain. For me though, it’s quality over quantity. I’d rather pay a premium price for something that’s made well. Rather than buy something that’s inexpensive and will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. Now, that’s not to say I’m right. Of course, it’s not. It’s just me saying, this is my logic.

I have been a lover of Jo Malone for a long long time and champion their candles. As well as their fine fragrances and of course, their hand and arm massages are so dreamy. Mimosa and Cardamom is my go-to for the entire range, just in case you wondered.

Aldi fan

On the other hand. I’m also a lover of shopping in Aldi, they have a condensed range. Their food is a great price and more often than not, they’re my preferred choice over the big household brands. I mean Norpak wins every day over Lurpak!

That’s why when they introduced their range of dupe Jo Malone candles I was intrigued to see just how much of a likeness they were to their £45 a shot counterpart?? Priced at just £3.99 per candle. With a 3 wick option (£9.99) and the 250g trio set (also £9.99) in their growing collection. Aldi has also introduced room diffusers and room sprays into their initial range. For the same price as one Jo Malone 200g candle, you can throw 10 of the Number collection in your basket and still have change leftover! Madness!

Making a candle

I have quite an in-depth knowledge of candle making from all the supplies you need like pocket scales to the inner workings of candles really work. From how your choice of wax impacts the burn time. The choice of wick impacts the way the candle burns. Finally, the fragrance used combined with the wax, I know, this plays a huge part in creating that effervescent smell when entering a room with a lit candle. So feel that when it comes to being a judge of a candle, I’m pretty well qualified in this department.

Although Aldi has appeared to have nailed it with the production of the likeness in packaging and the initial scent. Having burnt one of their candles for around 30 minutes I failed to be consumed by the fragrance the way that my favourite Jo Malone, Diptyque or Penhaligon’s candles do.

I feel that the Aldi range is more for those people who enjoy a lit candle. They have about a 30 hour burn time, whereas Jo Malone has a 45 hour burn time. However, for the same level of smell in terms of power you’d need to burn the Jo Malone one for a shorter period of time.

Facebook famous

When Facebook went into meltdown a couple of weeks ago over the launch of Aldi’s Jo Malone style bath and body range I couldn’t wait to see if these were going to follow suit with the candles. Or if they were going to be a game-changer.

Let’s face it at a price of £30 per bottle for Jo Malone hand wash you kind of don’t want your house guests to wash their hands, do you? Saying that requiring the smallest amount of soap creates a huge lather. Therefore meaning this highly fragranced soap truly lasts.

I managed to fight the crowds to get my hands on three of the four new items in the collection (I’ve struggled to get my hands on the fragrance). As I really wanted to put them to the test. In order to give an honest opinion about the differences.

Launching their Luxury Eau De Toilette

Which comes in at a staggeringly low price of £5.99. Available in Lime, Basil and Mandarin, Freesia and Pear and Pomegranate. This is comparable to the £90 a bottle price tag of a Jo Malone fragrance of the same size.

This is the one product from the range which I’ve not been able to get hold of despite visiting multiple Aldi stores. I have, however, when purchasing the body care range in my local Aldi managed to smell the fragrance on the lovely lady (who’s my favourite checkout assistant) whilst chatting about the products at the checkout. It was relatively late in the day and she had been on a long shift.

Wearing Number 1; Lime Basil & Mandarin the smell was fresh and had been long-lasting. She commented on how the scent was long-wearing and I must admit that it was almost identical in smell to the real Jo Malone version. I’m desperate to get my hands on a bottle to really test the waters as I sprayed my jacket with Jo Malone perfume a week ago and you can still smell the Mimosa & Cardomom on it.

My rating: 4/5 (from what I’ve seen so far)

Next up; the body cream.

Priced at £4.99 per jar. A huge price difference of £47.01 compared to the jars of Luxury Brand Jo Malone which are priced at £52.

The cream is luxurious and moisture-rich. Presented in a glass jar this exudes luxury and again, scented just like their Jo Malone rivals. Admittedly I do prefer the Jo Malone version as it’s a little less oily than the Aldi Number Body Range. The JM creme is silky and luxurious and really gives you a full spa experience feel, whereas the Aldi creme doesn’t transport you to luxury and relaxation.

My rating: 4/5

The Luxury Hand and Body Wash

Available in the four fragrances that run through the whole collection.  Lime Basil & Mandarin, Blackberry & Bay, Pear and Freesia and Pomegranate. These are priced at £2.99 a bottle, which is 10% of the cost of the Jo Malone equivalent. Admittedly, I do love absolutely love the Mimosa and Cardamom scent, so I have to say I’m a little biased here. However, these are my thoughts on the handwash.

The handwashes are really well fragranced, as with the whole range. Which I think is such a great feature that Aldi has been able to create a likeness in terms of recreating your favourite scent. The handwash, however, doesn’t lather in the way that Jo Malone hand washes do. You only need a fraction of a pump of Jo Malone, whereas you need a few pumps of the Aldi equivalent to work up a lather.

Probably my least favourite product from the new collection. I’ll probably just use it to wash the dog with. It didn’t impress me to switch. At all.

My rating: 2/5

Finally, the Luxury Hand & Body Lotion.

Again priced at £2.99 and a difference of £37.01 against the real thing priced at £40. I found that the lotion was silky smooth and really held the scent. This is a great daytime cream for keeping your hands well moisturised, whereas the body cream is perfect for post-bath nourishment.

I rarely use hand lotion as I much prefer using a body cream, however, the formula is great and isn’t oily like the cream. If you use hand lotion and are looking for something low cost and cheerful then I would recommend this, especially in Lime Basil and Mandarin as it smells utterly divine.

My rating: 3/5

Aldi loves their ‘if you bought one of these branded items for the same price you could have bought [number of items] at Aldi’ adverts, so let’s compare the saving.

Buying the four items in the Jo Malone store would cost you £212. Whereas the four dupe items in Aldi would cost you a mere £16.96. A colossal price difference of £194.04! That’s a huge saving, you could buy the whole Aldi range 12 times and still have cash left over.

My final verdict…..

My overall rating: 3/5

Whilst I love the concept of making a luxurious product more accessible to those who don’t have the budget for luxury retailers, I am a huge lover of quality at whatever cost.  So unfortunately for me, Aldi, the cash you save me on my fruit and veg, I’ll be spending in Jo Malone.