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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned a discounter was offering a fresh product collection that appeared comparable to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael rushed to her nearest outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold top of both creams look noticeably comparable. While Rachael has not tested the luxury cream, she says she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK consumers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a February study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic well-known brands and offer cost-effective options to luxury products. They frequently have similar branding and containers, but in some cases the components can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists say some alternatives to premium labels are good standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is always more effective," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all high-end beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly amazing," says a podcast host, who hosts a show featuring public figures.

Many of the products inspired by luxury brands "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be alright in using a budget alternative or something which is quite affordable because there's minimal that can cause issues," she says.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

But the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and note that costlier items are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - often the elevated price also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the technology employed to create the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, the expert explains.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's valuable thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they could contain filler ingredients that don't have as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"One key uncertainty is 'How is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott notes sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

"Do not be convinced by the outer appearance," he warned.

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For advanced items or ones with components that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist recommends using research-backed labels.

She states these probably have been through expensive tests to assess how effective they are.

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

If the brand states about the efficacy of the item, it requires data to support it, "however the manufacturer doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead cite testing done by other brands, she says.

Check the Label of the Container

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a item is low-quality?

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