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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out a supermarket was offering a new product collection that looked similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her local outlet to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its smooth blue container and gold lid of both products look remarkably comparable. And though Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers report they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recent survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic bigger name labels and present cost-effective options to luxury products. They typically have comparable names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals say some substitutes to high-end brands are decent standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"I don't think more expensive is always superior," says dermatology expert one expert. "Not every budget skincare brand is poor - and not every high-end skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely impressive," says Scott McGlynn, who runs a program featuring famous people.

Numerous of the products inspired by high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the basics to a reasonable degree."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or a product which is quite inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

But the experts also advise consumers do their research and state that higher-priced products are at times worthy of the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not just covering the name and advertising - often the increased cost also comes from the ingredients and their grade, the concentration of the effective element, the science employed to create the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Facialist another professional argues it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she says they might include filler ingredients that lack as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The key uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Expert McGlynn says sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known label but the item has "no connection to the premium version".

"Do not be convinced by the outer appearance," he warned.

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Regarding more complicated items or those with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate suggests using research-backed brands.

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

Beauty products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, explains skin doctor another professional.

If the company makes claims about the performance of the product, it must have evidence to support it, "however the brand does not always have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively cite testing done by different brands, she says.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Container

Is there any components that could indicate a item is low-quality?

Components on the back of the container are listed by amount. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up