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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned a discounter was offering a recent product collection that looked comparable to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her local store to purchase the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of each creams look noticeably similar. Although Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been buying beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK consumers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44% among younger adults, based on a recently published survey.

Alternatives are beauty items that mimic bigger name labels and present affordable substitutes to luxury products. These products frequently have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare professionals say some dupes to luxury labels are good standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think more expensive is necessarily superior," comments consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable beauty label is bad - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really excellent," adds a skincare commentator, who hosts a podcast about celebrities.

A lot of of the products inspired by luxury labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he comments. "These items will do the essentials to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when seeking simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is quite low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the specialists also recommend shoppers investigate and say that costlier items are at times worth the extra money.

With premium beauty products, you're not just covering the label and promotion - often the elevated price tag also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology used to produce the item, and tests into the item's performance, the expert explains.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman says it's important questioning how certain dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

In some cases, she says they may include less effective components that do not provide as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The big uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott notes on occasion he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Do not be convinced by the packaging," he warned.

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Regarding potent items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist advises selecting research-backed labels.

The expert explains these typically have been through comprehensive tests to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare items must be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

When the label states about the performance of the item, it requires research to back it up, "however the manufacturer does not always have to do the trials" and can instead reference studies completed by other brands, she says.

Examine the Label of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could indicate a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by concentration. "Potential irritants that you want to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up