🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned a discounter was offering a new product collection that appeared similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper hurried to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue container and gold top of both products look remarkably similar. And though Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a 25% of UK buyers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to 44% among younger adults, according to a recently published study.

Alternatives are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and offer budget-friendly substitutes to high-end items. They often have comparable branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Skincare experts contend many dupes to premium labels are reasonable standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is invariably better," states skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast about public figures.

Numerous of the items based on high-end labels "run out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks dupes are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

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

"If you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a dupe or a product which is very affordable because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

However the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and say that higher-priced items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only paying for the name and marketing - often the elevated price also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the concentration of the effective element, the technology utilized to create the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo notes.

Skin therapist she argues it's important questioning how some dupes can be priced so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they might include bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

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

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a established label but the item has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Do not be fooled by the container," he warned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For potent items or ones with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate advises selecting research-backed labels.

She states these will likely have been subjected to costly tests to assess how effective they are.

Skincare items must be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the brand advertises about the effectiveness of the item, it needs research to verify it, "however the seller doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can instead use testing completed by other companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Container

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

Ingredients on the list of the tube are listed by concentration. "The baddies that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up