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Rachael Parnell

After discovering a consumer found out a discounter was offering a recent product collection that looked similar to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her nearest outlet to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold top of the two items look noticeably similar. While Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she states she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK buyers say they've bought a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recently published poll.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic well-known labels and offer affordable alternatives to premium items. They typically have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the formulas can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Better'

Skincare professionals argue certain dupes to premium labels are reasonable standard and help make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion more expensive is always superior," comments consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are truly excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who runs a program featuring famous people.

Many of the products modeled on high-end brands "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "They will do the fundamentals to a acceptable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when you're looking for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

However the professionals also advise consumers do their research and note that more expensive items are sometimes worth the additional cost.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just covering the brand and advertising - at times the higher price also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the research utilized to create the item, and tests into the item's performance, she says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's worth considering how some alternatives can be offered so cheaply.

In some cases, she believes they might have less effective components that do not provide as many positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"The key question mark is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she says.

Podcast host McGlynn says on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be sold by the outer appearance," he warned.

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Regarding more complicated products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate suggests sticking to medical-grade labels.

The expert states these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty products need to be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, notes consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the label advertises about the performance of the item, it needs research to back it up, "however the brand does not always have to perform the trials" and can instead use evidence conducted by different companies, she says.

Read the Back of the Container

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