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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was selling a new beauty line that seemed similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her local store to buy the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue container and gold top of the two creams look strikingly comparable. Although Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers say they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recent survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate established labels and present affordable options to high-end items. These products often have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare professionals say certain substitutes to luxury labels are good standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think costlier is necessarily more effective," states skin specialist one expert. "Not every affordable skincare brand is bad - and not every luxury skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," notes a podcast host, who presents a show about famous people.

Numerous of the items inspired by high-end brands "sell out so quickly, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes alternatives are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he comments. "They will handle the essentials to a satisfactory standard."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is very low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

But the specialists also suggest shoppers do their research and note that costlier items are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - sometimes the elevated price tag also stems from the components and their standard, the concentration of the key component, the research used to produce the item, and tests into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo says.

Beauty expert she argues it's valuable considering how some dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she says they could have bulking agents that don't have as many advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One big uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Expert Scott notes sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a big-name brand but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be convinced by the packaging," he warned.

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For potent products or those with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she advises using medical-grade companies.

She states these will likely have been through expensive studies to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Skincare products are required to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, explains expert another professional.

When the label makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it needs data to back it up, "but the brand doesn't always have to do the trials" and can alternatively cite studies done by different companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any components that could indicate a item is poor?

Components on the label of the container are arranged by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up