🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

When one shopper found out a discounter was offering a recent product collection that appeared comparable to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She hurried to her nearest outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold top of both creams look noticeably alike. And though Rachael has not tested the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK consumers state they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to nearly half among younger adults, according to a recent study.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate bigger name labels and provide cost-effective alternatives to premium products. They typically have comparable branding and containers, but in some cases the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists contend some dupes to high-end labels are decent standard and assist make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think higher-priced is necessarily more effective," states dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all affordable skincare brand is poor - and not all high-end beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," says a skincare commentator, who hosts a show about public figures.

A lot of of the products modeled on high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"These products will serve a purpose," he says. "They will handle the essentials to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be fine in using a dupe or something which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

However the professionals also suggest shoppers do their research and note that more expensive items are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the brand and marketing - at times the increased cost also comes from the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the key component, the technology employed to produce the item, and trials into the item's performance, Dr Belmo notes.

Facialist she says it's valuable considering how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they might include less effective components that do not provide as significant advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"One major uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Podcast host McGlynn says on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the item has "no connection to the premium version".

"Don't be sold by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For potent products or those with components that can inflame the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate recommends selecting more specialised labels.

She states these probably have been subjected to expensive trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains skin doctor another professional.

When the company makes claims about the performance of the item, it requires data to support it, "however the seller doesn't always have to perform the trials" and can alternatively use testing done by different brands, she says.

Read the Back of the Bottle

Are there any components that could signal a item is poor?

Ingredients on the label of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up