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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper heard a supermarket was offering a new product collection that seemed comparable to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her closest store to pick up the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml product.

The smooth blue container and gold lid of both items look remarkably comparable. While Rachael has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recently published survey.

Dupes are beauty items that copy bigger name labels and offer cost-effective options to luxury items. These products typically have alike branding and containers, but in some cases the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty professionals contend certain substitutes to luxury labels are reasonable standard and aid make skincare less expensive.

"It is not true that more expensive is always more effective," comments dermatology expert one expert. "Not all budget beauty label is inferior - and not every luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely impressive," says a podcast host, who runs a show with public figures.

A lot of of the products based on high-end brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor argues alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he comments. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, advises you can save money when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a dupe or a product which is very inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she says.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'

However the professionals also suggest consumers investigate and say that costlier products are at times worthy of the premium price.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just funding the name and advertising - often the higher price also is due to the formula and their quality, the potency of the active ingredient, the technology employed to create the product, and trials into the products' efficacy, she notes.

Facialist Rhian Truman argues it's important considering how certain alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they may include bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"One major uncertainty is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Commentator McGlynn notes in some cases he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Do not be fooled by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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For advanced items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she suggests using research-backed companies.

She says these probably have been through costly tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items must be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says expert another professional.

If the company states about the effectiveness of the item, it must have research to support it, "but the seller doesn't always have to do the trials" and can alternatively reference studies done by different companies, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are listed by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up