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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell found out a supermarket was offering a fresh skincare range that seemed similar to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her nearest shop to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold top of each products look strikingly comparable. And though Rachael has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This rises to 44% among younger adults, based on a February survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name labels and offer cost-effective alternatives to high-end items. They often have alike branding and containers, but in some cases the components can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty professionals contend many dupes to high-end labels are decent standard and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably superior," states skin specialist a doctor. "Not all budget product line is bad - and not all high-end skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really excellent," adds a podcast host, who runs a show about famous people.

Numerous of the products based on high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry believes alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he says. "They will handle the basics to a satisfactory degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite affordable because there's minimal that can be problematic," she explains.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the specialists also suggest shoppers investigate and say that more expensive products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding high-end beauty products, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - sometimes the increased price also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the concentration of the effective element, the research used to create the item, and studies into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo says.

Beauty expert another professional argues it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she says they might include less effective components that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"One big doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Commentator McGlynn says sometimes he's purchased skincare items that appear similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the premium version".

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

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For advanced products or those with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she advises selecting more specialised brands.

She states these will likely have been through expensive tests to assess how effective they are.

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

If the label states about the performance of the product, it must have data to verify it, "but the brand does not necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively use testing conducted by different brands, she adds.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

Are there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Components on the label of the container are arranged by quantity. "Potential irritants that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up