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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard a discounter was offering a fresh skincare range that looked akin to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper rushed to her local store to pick up the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The smooth blue packaging and gold lid of the two items look remarkably comparable. Although she has not used the high-end cream, she claims she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a quarter of UK buyers state they've purchased a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recently published poll.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy established companies and offer affordable alternatives to premium items. They frequently have alike labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare specialists contend certain alternatives to high-end labels are decent standard and help make beauty routines more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily better," states consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not all budget skincare brand is poor - and not all premium skincare product is the best."

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

A lot of of the products based on high-end brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will handle the fundamentals to a acceptable degree."

Another skin doctor, advises you can spend less when searching for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in using a budget alternative or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

But the specialists also advise buyers investigate and state that costlier items are at times worthy of the extra money.

With premium beauty products, you're not only funding the brand and marketing - at times the elevated cost also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the research utilized to produce the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo says.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she states they might contain less effective components that lack as many advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The key doubt is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Podcast host McGlynn admits sometimes he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the original".

"Don't be fooled by the packaging," he warned.

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For potent products or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist advises using medical-grade brands.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to expensive trials to determine how successful they are.

Skincare products need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says consultant dermatologist another professional.

When the company makes claims about the efficacy of the item, it needs evidence to back it up, "but the seller does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively cite evidence done by other companies, she adds.

Check the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the label of the tube are listed by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up