Aldi vs Jo Malone | Save vs Splurge

You know I’m a lover of luxury. With my staples 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.

Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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.

Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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)

Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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.

Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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

Mimosa & Cardamom Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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

Hand Lotion Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

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.

Jo Malone vs Aldi Number | Splurge vs Save | Honest Review of the new Aldi bath & body range | Elle Blonde Luxury Lifestyle Destination Blog

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. Shai

    Hey Laura,

    I really enjoy your insight and the way you write. But a question please – do you know who the manufacturer is, who makes the ‘replica’ perfumes for Aldi or Lidl?
    Best,
    Shai

    1. Elle Blonde

      Shai, thanks for your kind words. Unfortunately, I don’t know of these manufacturers. I can only assume they’re manufactured in-house as I know the luxury candles are an Aldi own brand

  2. Mino Pinna

    I am a huge lover of quality at whatever cost….WELL SAID.

    Mino

  3. LindsayKate

    You and people like you are why luxury brands thrive. I love high end makeup.
    Even though my rational brain knows it is overpriced grease and pigments!
    So I do kinda understand you.
    However you have no self-awareness!
    Your review is just one cost more so must be best. And I just re-read pixi vs. Aldi glycolic acid toner review and saw “babes at pixi sent me a bottle, with my name on it!!!”
    Made what you called “a fair review” that was already anything but even more laughable
    You came up top in aldi glycolic acid review search which is why I bother to comment.
    I don’t want to bully you I really don’t but with your influence you seem to have you have to do better.

    1. Elle Blonde

      Oh hello again ‘Lindsay’ or ‘Kate’ or whichever troll name you choose to hide behind. I’m not too sure if your first sentence is trying to be derogatory or what the actual purpose of it is? It’s just a neutral statement in my eyes. I like to see all businesses thrive and to be honest with you small or large, luxury of low cost I don’t care, I just love to see businesses thrive. So great start and go me and the ‘people like me’. Surely your second sentence is a contradiction of your first sentence and therefore puts you in the category of ‘people like me’, we have a little more in common now, which is thrilling don’t you agree?

      Again back to my previous comment on another post you left, I’ve never been gifted anything by Jo Malone, yet I’ve worked with Aldi on multiple occasions so there’s no benefit to me here – and of course would I not be more leaning towards Aldi in this case? I paid for all the items in this review. Funny story, if you fast forward from this review written in March 2018 to Aldi’s Luxury Advent Calendar in November 2018 you’ll see that I much prefer this lower cost item than the Jo Malone item which is a £300 price difference Therefore making this already contradictory argument you’re having with yourself null and void.

      This is where my problem lies with your final sentence ‘you don’t want to bully me’ – see I have absolutely no tolerance for bullies and yes you may not like my review, that’s fine. Like I said in response to the other comment, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. What I won’t allow is anybody to purposely ‘bully’ anybody. See, I’ve a tough skin, but what I do have is younger cousins who are impressionable and a very young Goddaughter who I’m very protective over and in an online world where anybody behind a keyboard can become anybody they wish I take a stand against people who think it’s acceptable to ‘bully’ one another. I don’t want these young girls to grow up with a lack of self-confidence, I don’t want them to be afraid to voice their own views and opinion regardless if it right or wrong and I certainly don’t want them growing up with the attitude you have. And this is why I’ve had to comment because girls need to know that they are alright to stand up for themselves when people proudly want to wear a bully badge! I wouldn’t want that ‘honour’ that you seem smug about, no thank you! Perhaps what would have been better would be to have revoked the term bullying, to change the tone of your comment and to offer constructive criticism – as I’m very open to CC, instead of inundating my site with pointless, comments with little or no substance.

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