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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was offering a recent beauty line that looked similar to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She hurried to her closest outlet to buy the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

Its smooth blue tube and gold cap of both creams look noticeably similar. And though Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she says she's satisfied by the product so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from popular shops and grocery stores for years, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers state they've purchased a skincare or makeup dupe. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a February study.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy established labels and present affordable substitutes to luxury items. They often have comparable branding and containers, but occasionally the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare experts argue some substitutes to luxury labels are decent quality and assist make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably better," states consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable product line is poor - and not every premium beauty item is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a podcast with famous people.

A lot of of the items based on high-end labels "run out so rapidly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor argues dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will be effective," he explains. "They will do the basics to a reasonable level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a lookalike or something which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she says.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

Yet the professionals also recommend consumers do their research and note that more expensive items are occasionally worth the extra money.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just covering the brand and marketing - often the elevated cost also is due to the components and their grade, the potency of the effective element, the research utilized to produce the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, the expert notes.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how certain alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she believes they might contain bulking agents that lack as significant advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The key uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Expert McGlynn admits on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a big-name brand but the item has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he cautioned.

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Regarding advanced products or those with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests using more specialised labels.

The expert states these probably have been through expensive studies to determine how effective they are.

Beauty products are required to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the label states about the efficacy of the item, it requires evidence to support it, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead use evidence completed by other firms, she clarifies.

Check the Back of the Bottle

Is there any components that could signal a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the tube are ordered by amount. "The baddies that you should avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up