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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was offering a fresh beauty line that appeared similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael hurried to her local shop to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.

The sleek blue packaging and gold top of both creams look strikingly alike. While Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK buyers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, as per a recently published study.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate bigger name brands and present affordable substitutes to luxury items. These products often have alike branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty professionals say some alternatives to premium labels are good standard and aid make beauty routines more affordable.

"I don't think higher-priced is always superior," states skin specialist a doctor. "Not every affordable product line is poor - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are really impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who presents a show featuring public figures.

Many of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional believes alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will do the essentials to a acceptable standard."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a dupe or a product which is quite affordable because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

But the specialists also advise shoppers investigate and say that higher-priced items are at times worthy of the additional cost.

With luxury skincare, you're not just covering the brand and marketing - sometimes the higher price tag also stems from the formula and their quality, the strength of the key component, the science employed to produce the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, Dr Belmo explains.

Facialist she argues it's important questioning how some dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she believes they may contain filler ingredients that do not provide as significant benefits for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

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

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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For potent products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist suggests selecting more specialised labels.

The expert states these will likely have been through costly studies to determine how efficacious they are.

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

If the company makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it requires research to verify it, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can instead cite studies done by other brands, she adds.

Examine the Label of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could indicate a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the list of the tube are ordered by quantity. "Potential irritants that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up