The budget moisturiser beat 16 other face creams including a luxury brand that cost more than €200.

The German supermarket chain has been given the ‘award’ by Spain’s Consumer and Users Organization (OCU), a private non-profit group which carried out rigorous tests, which involved every moisturiser being tested 'blindly' by volunteer women over a four-week period.

The OCU studied how effective the range – from cheap supermarket options to pharmacy and top brands – were at hydrating the subjects’ skins and treating their wrinkles.

Lidl’s the pale-blue Cien Aqua cream scored the top 64 points out of 100. Vichy’s Aqualia Thermal crema ligera (€17) came in second, followed by Garnier Skins Natural tub at €4.99.

The most expensive cream in the study, La Mer’s moisturizing gel cream, sells for a whopping €225 but came bottom of the list with a score of 48.

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OCU researchers also examined the ingredients contained within the creams with points deducted for those brands which contained substances that, although permitted by the European Union, are not recommended.

These include certain 'parabens', including Butylparaben and Propylparaben; the preservative Methylisothiazolinone, which has a high allergy-causing potential, and perfumes which may cause adverse skin reactions.

Last time a study of this type was carried out by the OCU, Lidl's Cien Q10, in a yellow jar and costing €2.99 came out top – causing stores across Spain to sell out with women queuing up to buy the product when new stock came in.