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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned a supermarket was selling a fresh beauty line that looked comparable to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael rushed to her local shop to purchase the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml item.

The streamlined blue tube and gold top of both items look remarkably alike. Although she has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK buyers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, as per a recently published poll.

Dupes are skincare products that copy established companies and provide cost-effective alternatives to luxury items. They typically have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the formulas can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare professionals say certain substitutes to premium labels are decent quality and assist make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think more expensive is invariably better," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not every premium beauty item is the best."

"Some [dupes] are really impressive," adds Scott McGlynn, who presents a podcast with public figures.

Numerous of the items modeled on high-end brands "disappear so fast, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "These items will do the fundamentals to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, advises you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is quite inexpensive because there's not much that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Container'

Yet the professionals also suggest consumers check details and note that costlier products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With premium skincare, you're not only paying for the brand and marketing - often the increased price tag also is due to the formula and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the science employed to create the product, and tests into the products' performance, she notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman suggests it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

In some cases, she believes they might have filler ingredients that don't have as significant benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The key question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Commentator McGlynn notes on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a well-known label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

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Regarding advanced products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate advises using research-backed labels.

She states these typically have been through expensive trials to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires evidence to support it, "however the brand doesn't necessarily have to do the testing" and can alternatively use studies completed by different firms, she adds.

Read the Label of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the label of the tube are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up