🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was offering a recent product collection that looked comparable to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She dashed to her nearest outlet to pick up the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml product.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of each items look remarkably comparable. And though she has not used the premium cream, she says she's pleased by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying lookalike products from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

More than a fourth of UK consumers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, based on a recent poll.

Alternatives are beauty items that copy established brands and present affordable alternatives to luxury products. These products often have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Superior'

Beauty specialists contend some dupes to high-end brands are good quality and help make beauty routines more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably more effective," states consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every low-budget beauty label is bad - and not all premium beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really amazing," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a show featuring celebrities.

Numerous of the products based on luxury brands "disappear so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

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

A consultant dermatologist, suggests you can spend less when searching for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a dupe or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the professionals also suggest buyers do their research and say that higher-priced products are sometimes worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not only paying for the label and advertising - at times the elevated price tag also stems from the components and their standard, the concentration of the active ingredient, the technology used to produce the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, she says.

Skin therapist she suggests it's important questioning how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she says they may have bulking agents that don't have as significant advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The big question mark is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott admits sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a established brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends selecting research-backed labels.

The expert states these will likely have been through comprehensive trials to assess how effective they are.

Beauty products are required to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the brand states about the efficacy of the product, it requires evidence to back it up, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to do the testing" and can instead cite studies done by other firms, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any components that could indicate a product is inferior?

Components on the list of the bottle are arranged by amount. "The baddies that you need to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up