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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was launching a recent product collection that looked comparable to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

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

The smooth blue tube and gold top of each creams look strikingly similar. And though Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK buyers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This increases to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a recent study.

Alternatives are skincare products that mimic well-known labels and provide cost-effective options to premium products. These products frequently have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the formulas can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Better'

Beauty professionals argue certain alternatives to premium brands are good quality and assist make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily superior," comments dermatology expert one expert. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely impressive," notes a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

A lot of of the products inspired by luxury brands "disappear so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes alternatives are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will be effective," he comments. "They will do the basics to a reasonable degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when searching for simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's very little that can be problematic," she explains.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

However the specialists also suggest buyers do their research and state that higher-priced products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not just funding the label and promotion - often the higher cost also comes from the formula and their grade, the potency of the active ingredient, the research utilized to produce the product, and trials into the products' performance, Dr Belmo explains.

Beauty expert another professional suggests it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they may contain bulking agents that lack as many benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"One major question mark is 'How is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott notes in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known label but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be convinced by the outer appearance," he added.

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For advanced products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate recommends using research-backed labels.

She explains these typically have been subjected to expensive trials to assess how successful they are.

Skincare items need to be tested before they can be available in the UK, notes expert another professional.

When the label makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it must have research to support it, "however the manufacturer does not always have to do the testing" and can alternatively cite testing done by different firms, she clarifies.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Container

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 want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up