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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard a discounter was offering a new beauty line that seemed comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She dashed to her local shop to buy the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

The smooth blue packaging and gold lid of each items look remarkably similar. While she has not used the luxury cream, she states she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK shoppers state they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44% among younger adults, as per a recent study.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate bigger name brands and provide budget-friendly alternatives to luxury items. These products typically have similar branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts say some dupes to high-end labels are decent quality and aid make beauty routines less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is always superior," states skin specialist one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is inferior - and not every luxury beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who presents a show about public figures.

Many of the items based on high-end labels "sell out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Dupes will be effective," he comments. "They will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're likely going to be okay in using a lookalike or something which is quite low cost because there's not much that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

However the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and note that higher-priced items are at times worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - often the elevated price also comes from the formula and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the research utilized to produce the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Facialist Rhian Truman suggests it's worth thinking about how certain alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they might include filler ingredients that lack as significant advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

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

Podcast host Scott admits sometimes he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a established brand but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

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

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For more complicated products or those with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises sticking to medical-grade brands.

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

Skincare items must be assessed before they can be available in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to back it up, "however the manufacturer does not always have to do the trials" and can instead cite studies completed by different companies, she clarifies.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the list of the tube are arranged by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up