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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell heard a supermarket was launching a fresh product collection that seemed comparable to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her local store to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue tube and gold top of both products look strikingly similar. And though Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she states she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK consumers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a recent study.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate established labels and provide cost-effective substitutes to premium products. These products frequently have similar labels and design, but occasionally the formulas can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty specialists say some dupes to high-end labels are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that higher-priced is invariably more effective," comments dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast featuring famous people.

A lot of of the products inspired by luxury labels "sell out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes alternatives are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "These items will do the essentials to a satisfactory level."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's not much that can be problematic," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

But the specialists also suggest buyers do their research and note that costlier items are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just covering the name and marketing - often the higher cost also comes from the components and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the technology utilized to produce the item, and trials into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Facialist she says it's worth thinking about how some dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she says they could contain filler ingredients that don't have as significant positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

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

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the premium version".

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

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For potent items or ones with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not created correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist advises selecting more specialised brands.

The expert explains these typically have been subjected to expensive trials to determine how successful they are.

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

When the label makes claims about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to verify it, "but the brand does not necessarily have to do the trials" and can alternatively reference studies done by different brands, she clarifies.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is poor?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "Potential irritants that you should avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up