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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned a discounter was offering a new product collection that looked akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her local outlet to buy the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml item.

The streamlined blue tube and gold lid of each creams look remarkably comparable. And though she has not tested the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a fourth of UK buyers report they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This increases to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent study.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate established brands and present budget-friendly options to high-end items. They frequently have alike names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty experts say some dupes to high-end labels are reasonable standard and help make skincare less expensive.

"It is not true that costlier is always more effective," comments consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a program with famous people.

Many of the products based on luxury labels "run out so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional believes alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will handle the essentials to a reasonable degree."

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

"When you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a dupe or a product which is very low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

Yet the specialists also advise consumers check details and state that more expensive items are sometimes worth the additional cost.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just funding the name and marketing - at times the higher price tag also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the science utilized to produce the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo notes.

Facialist another professional says it's important thinking about how certain dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they could contain less effective components that do not provide as significant positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"One key question mark is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the item has "no resemblance to the premium version".

"Don't be convinced by the outer appearance," he warned.

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For more complicated items or ones with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she advises selecting more specialised brands.

She explains these probably have been subjected to costly trials to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare items are required to be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, notes expert another professional.

When the brand advertises about the performance of the product, it needs data to back it up, "however the seller doesn't always have to do the testing" and can instead reference studies conducted by different brands, she clarifies.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

Are there any components that could suggest a product is poor?

Components on the back of the tube are ordered by concentration. "Potential irritants that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up