🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer found out a supermarket was offering a recent product collection that seemed akin to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She dashed to her nearest shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml item.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of both creams look strikingly alike. Although Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

Over a quarter of UK buyers report they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recent survey.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate well-known brands and provide cost-effective options to luxury items. They often have comparable branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty professionals say certain dupes to premium brands are good quality and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is always better," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not all budget product line is bad - and not all high-end skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast with celebrities.

A lot of of the items inspired by high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor argues alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "They will perform the basics to a satisfactory level."

A consultant dermatologist, suggests you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also recommend consumers investigate and say that more expensive products are at times worthy of the premium price.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not only funding the label and promotion - sometimes the higher price tag also comes from the components and their quality, the concentration of the active ingredient, the science employed to produce the item, and tests into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo says.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman says it's worth considering how some dupes can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they might contain less effective components that do not provide as significant positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The major doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott says sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be fooled by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

Regarding potent items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests sticking to more specialised companies.

She says these typically have been through expensive studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Beauty products are required to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the label states about the effectiveness of the item, it requires research to back it up, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead cite studies completed by other companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could indicate a product is poor?

Components on the label of the bottle are ordered by concentration. "Potential irritants that you need to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up