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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell heard a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that seemed akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her local outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The sleek blue tube and gold lid of each items look noticeably similar. Although Rachael has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK buyers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, based on a February survey.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate bigger name companies and provide budget-friendly substitutes to high-end products. These products typically have alike labels and design, but occasionally the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts argue many dupes to premium brands are decent standard and help make skincare cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is always more effective," states dermatology expert one expert. "Not all budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are truly impressive," says a skincare commentator, who hosts a show with celebrities.

A lot of of the items inspired by high-end labels "sell out so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"These products will do the job," he says. "They will do the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

A consultant dermatologist, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in using a budget alternative or something which is fairly affordable because there's very little that can be problematic," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

Yet the experts also suggest buyers investigate and say that higher-priced items are sometimes worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - at times the higher price tag also stems from the components and their quality, the potency of the key component, the technology used to produce the product, and studies into the products' performance, she notes.

Beauty expert she argues it's important thinking about how certain dupes can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she says they may contain filler ingredients that lack as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major uncertainty is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Expert Scott notes in some cases he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Do not be fooled by the packaging," he added.

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For potent products or those with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests selecting medical-grade companies.

The expert says these will likely have been subjected to costly tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products are required to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, notes expert another professional.

If the brand states about the performance of the item, it requires data to back it up, "however the manufacturer does not always have to perform the trials" and can instead reference evidence completed by different firms, she adds.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you need to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up