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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer heard a supermarket was launching a new skincare range that seemed comparable to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest shop to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold lid of each items look remarkably alike. While Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been buying lookalike products from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

Over a 25% of UK consumers say they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, based on a recently published study.

Dupes are skincare products that copy well-known brands and present cost-effective alternatives to luxury products. They often have similar names and packaging, but in some cases the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists say many substitutes to premium labels are decent quality and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think more expensive is always superior," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every budget skincare brand is inferior - and not all premium beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are really impressive," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a program with public figures.

Many of the items inspired by luxury labels "run out so quickly, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

Yet the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and state that more expensive items are at times worthy of the extra money.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just funding the name and advertising - sometimes the higher price tag also stems from the components and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the research employed to create the product, and tests into the item's efficacy, she says.

Facialist another professional suggests it's worth considering how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she states they may have less effective components that don't have as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The key doubt is 'How is it so cheap?'" she says.

Expert Scott admits in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a big-name brand but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

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Regarding advanced items or ones with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she recommends using research-backed labels.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to expensive tests to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare items must be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, says consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the label advertises about the efficacy of the product, it needs data to back it up, "but the seller doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite studies conducted by other brands, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the back of the container are listed by quantity. "The baddies that you should be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up