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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was launching a new product collection that looked similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper hurried to her nearest outlet to purchase the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The smooth blue container and gold lid of the two creams look noticeably alike. While Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she states she's pleased by the alternative so far.

She has been buying skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's in good company.

More than a quarter of UK buyers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a February poll.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate established brands and provide affordable substitutes to high-end products. These products often have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare professionals say many alternatives to premium brands are good standard and aid make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is invariably more effective," states skin specialist one expert. "Not all budget beauty label is inferior - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a podcast featuring public figures.

Numerous of the products inspired by luxury brands "sell out so fast, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks dupes are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "They will do the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or something which is very inexpensive because there's minimal that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also suggest shoppers check details and say that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just funding the name and marketing - at times the elevated price tag also comes from the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the active ingredient, the research utilized to develop the product, and trials into the item's performance, Dr Belmo explains.

Beauty expert another professional says it's valuable questioning how some alternatives can be priced so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they could include bulking agents that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"The big doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Expert Scott says in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be fooled by the container," he added.

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Regarding advanced items or ones with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends sticking to more specialised brands.

She states these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to determine how successful they are.

Skincare items are required to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the company makes claims about the performance of the item, it must have data to back it up, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively cite studies done by other companies, she says.

Check the Back of the Bottle

Is there any components that could signal a product is low-quality?

Components on the back of the tube are arranged by concentration. "Potential irritants that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up