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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer found out a discounter was launching a recent skincare range that seemed akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her nearest shop to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml item.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold top of both creams look remarkably similar. While she has not used the premium cream, she says she's pleased by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been purchasing skincare dupes from high street stores and grocery stores for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, as per a February study.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate well-known companies and present budget-friendly alternatives to high-end products. These products typically have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the components can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals argue many alternatives to high-end brands are good standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is always more effective," states consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the best."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," notes a podcast host, who hosts a podcast about public figures.

A lot of of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will handle the essentials to a acceptable standard."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or a product which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she says.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

But the specialists also suggest buyers do their research and say that costlier items are sometimes worth the premium price.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not only paying for the label and promotion - often the higher price tag also is due to the components and their standard, the concentration of the effective element, the technology used to create the item, and tests into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo says.

Facialist she says it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she believes they may include less effective components that do not provide as many benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The key uncertainty is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the original".

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

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For more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate suggests selecting more specialised labels.

The expert explains these will likely have been through comprehensive tests to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty products need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company advertises about the efficacy of the product, it needs evidence to verify it, "however the manufacturer does not always have to perform the testing" and can instead use testing conducted by different brands, she adds.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the label of the tube are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up