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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper found out a supermarket was offering a fresh skincare range that seemed akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her local shop to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml cream.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of each items look strikingly comparable. Although Rachael has not tested the luxury cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers state they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This increases to nearly half among younger adults, based on a recently published study.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate established companies and offer budget-friendly options to luxury products. These products frequently have comparable labels and design, but sometimes the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Beauty professionals say some substitutes to premium labels are good standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion more expensive is invariably better," states skin specialist one expert. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not all luxury skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast about public figures.

Numerous of the items based on luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will do the basics to a acceptable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when seeking simple-formula products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Packaging'

However the specialists also advise consumers check details and state that costlier products are sometimes worth the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only paying for the name and marketing - sometimes the higher price also is due to the formula and their grade, the potency of the effective element, the science employed to create the product, and studies into the item's effectiveness, she explains.

Facialist she says it's worth questioning how some alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they might have filler ingredients that don't have as significant advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"One big question mark is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott notes on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a big-name label but the item has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be convinced by the outer appearance," 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 serums, the specialist suggests using medical-grade brands.

The expert states these probably have been subjected to costly trials to evaluate how successful they are.

Beauty items are required to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it needs data to support it, "but the brand doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can instead cite testing completed by different brands, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any components that could indicate a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the tube are arranged by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up