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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was selling a recent skincare range that looked similar to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest shop to purchase the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of each products look remarkably comparable. While she has not tested the high-end cream, she states she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK consumers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This jumps to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recent survey.

Dupes are beauty items that copy bigger name labels and offer cost-effective options to premium items. These products frequently have similar labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare professionals say many alternatives to premium brands are good standard and assist make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is necessarily better," comments dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable product line is inferior - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast with famous people.

A lot of of the items modeled on high-end brands "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor believes dupes are suitable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"These products will be effective," he says. "They will perform the essentials to a acceptable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's not much that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Container'

But the experts also advise buyers check details and state that more expensive items are at times worthy of the premium price.

Regarding high-end beauty products, you're not only paying for the name and marketing - often the higher price tag also comes from the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the key component, the technology employed to produce the product, and studies into the item's efficacy, the expert explains.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be priced so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they might contain bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"The key uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Expert McGlynn says on occasion he's purchased beauty products that look similar to a established brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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For more complicated items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends using more specialised labels.

The expert states these typically have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it requires data to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't always have to do the testing" and can alternatively reference testing completed by different companies, she says.

Read the Label of the Container

Are there any components that could indicate a item is poor?

Components on the list of the container are listed by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up