🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper heard a discounter was launching a recent beauty line that looked comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her closest store to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml item.

Its smooth blue tube and gold cap of each products look noticeably alike. And though Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK consumers say they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recently published survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate established labels and present affordable alternatives to luxury items. They frequently have similar names and packaging, but in some cases the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare specialists say many dupes to premium brands are good quality and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that higher-priced is always more effective," states dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable product line is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," notes a skincare commentator, who runs a show about public figures.

Many of the products modeled on luxury brands "sell out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"These products will be effective," he comments. "They will perform the essentials to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be alright in using a budget alternative or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she says.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Packaging'

But the specialists also recommend consumers investigate and state that higher-priced products are sometimes worth the additional cost.

With luxury beauty products, you're not just covering the name and advertising - sometimes the elevated price tag also stems from the formula and their grade, the strength of the active ingredient, the research utilized to develop the item, and tests into the item's efficacy, she notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's valuable considering how some dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she says they might contain less effective components that do not provide as significant benefits for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"One big question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott notes on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a well-known label but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Don't be sold by the container," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For advanced items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate suggests sticking to more specialised labels.

She explains these probably have been through expensive studies to determine how successful they are.

Skincare products must be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company states about the efficacy of the item, it requires evidence to support it, "however the manufacturer does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can alternatively cite studies conducted by different firms, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could signal a product is low-quality?

Components on the list of the bottle are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up