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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell learned a discounter was launching a recent beauty line that looked similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her local shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

Its sleek blue container and gold cap of both products look strikingly similar. And though Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK consumers report they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, as per a February study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate established labels and offer budget-friendly alternatives to luxury products. They typically have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty experts argue many dupes to luxury labels are good quality and help make beauty routines more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is always superior," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not every low-budget product line is bad - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast with famous people.

Numerous of the items inspired by high-end labels "run out so rapidly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional argues dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "They will handle the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can save money when searching for simple-formula items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or something which is quite inexpensive because there's not much that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also recommend consumers check details and note that more expensive products are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not only covering the label and marketing - often the elevated price tag also is due to the formula and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the research employed to develop the product, and studies into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo notes.

Facialist Rhian Truman argues it's valuable considering how certain dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she believes they might include filler ingredients that don't have as numerous advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One key question mark is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Expert McGlynn notes sometimes he's bought beauty products that look similar to a big-name label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

"Do not be fooled by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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Regarding more complicated items or those with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she recommends using medical-grade companies.

The expert states these typically have been through comprehensive tests to determine how effective they are.

Beauty items must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, says consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company advertises about the efficacy of the product, it must have research to support it, "but the seller doesn't always have to conduct the trials" and can instead use studies completed by different firms, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could signal a product is poor?

Components on the list of the container are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up