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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer learned a supermarket was offering a fresh skincare range that looked akin to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She dashed to her local shop to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold lid of each products look noticeably comparable. And though she has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been buying lookalike products from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK buyers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, according to a February study.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate bigger name companies and present affordable substitutes to high-end items. They typically have similar labels and design, but in some cases the components can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals contend many alternatives to premium labels are good quality and help make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is necessarily better," says dermatology expert one expert. "Not every budget skincare brand is poor - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are truly amazing," says a skincare commentator, who runs a show featuring celebrities.

Numerous of the items modeled on high-end labels "sell out so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will do the job," he says. "These items will perform the basics to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can save money when searching for simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be alright in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is fairly affordable because there's very little that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Container'

However the professionals also suggest shoppers investigate and note that costlier products are at times worth the premium price.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just covering the brand and advertising - at times the increased cost also comes from the components and their quality, the concentration of the key component, the science used to create the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, the expert notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she states they may include bulking agents that do not provide as many benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The major question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott admits on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a big-name label but the item has "little similarity to the original".

"Do not be convinced by the container," he added.

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For more complicated products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate suggests sticking to more specialised companies.

The expert says these typically have been subjected to expensive trials to assess how effective they are.

Skincare items must be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor another professional.

When the company states about the efficacy of the product, it needs evidence to support it, "however the brand does not always have to perform the testing" and can alternatively use evidence completed by different firms, she adds.

Examine the Back of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the label of the container are ordered by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up