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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned a discounter was offering a fresh beauty line that looked comparable to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her local store to purchase the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The smooth blue container and gold lid of each creams look remarkably similar. While Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's impressed by the product so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK buyers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup dupe. This increases to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, according to a February survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate bigger name brands and provide cost-effective options to luxury products. These products frequently have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the ingredients can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists contend some alternatives to luxury labels are decent standard and help make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is invariably more effective," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all low-budget product line is bad - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," adds a podcast host, who presents a podcast featuring public figures.

A lot of of the products based on luxury labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry thinks dupes are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will do the basics to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

However the specialists also recommend shoppers investigate and state that higher-priced items are occasionally worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only funding the label and advertising - at times the elevated price tag also comes from the formula and their quality, the concentration of the key component, the science utilized to produce the product, and studies into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo explains.

Skin therapist she suggests it's valuable questioning how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Occasionally, she says they may contain bulking agents that don't have as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major uncertainty is 'How is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott admits on occasion he's bought skincare items that look similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Don't be sold by the container," he added.

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For advanced items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she advises selecting more specialised brands.

The expert says these typically have been through costly studies to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, notes expert another professional.

If the company makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it requires evidence to back it up, "however the seller does not necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively use testing conducted by other firms, she adds.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Container

Are there any ingredients that could signal a product is inferior?

Components on the list of the container are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up