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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was launching a fresh beauty line that appeared similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest outlet to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold top of both products look strikingly similar. Although she has not tested the high-end cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

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

Over a 25% of UK consumers report they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This rises to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, according to a recently published survey.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy well-known labels and present cost-effective options to premium items. They often have similar labels and design, but sometimes the components can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty professionals say some dupes to premium labels are good standard and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is always superior," says consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable product line is inferior - and not all premium skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely excellent," says a skincare commentator, who runs a show with celebrities.

Numerous of the products modeled on high-end brands "run out so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he says. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a acceptable degree."

Another skin doctor, advises you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

Yet the specialists also recommend buyers investigate and say that more expensive items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not just covering the brand and promotion - sometimes the elevated cost also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the technology utilized to create the product, and tests into the item's efficacy, she notes.

Skin therapist another professional argues it's important questioning how some dupes can be priced so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they might contain bulking agents that don't have as numerous benefits for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

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

Commentator McGlynn admits in some cases he's purchased beauty products that look similar to a big-name brand but the product itself has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Do not be convinced by the container," he cautioned.

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For advanced items or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist advises using medical-grade brands.

The expert says these probably have been through costly trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, says expert another professional.

When the company makes claims about the performance of the product, it needs evidence to verify it, "however the manufacturer does not always have to do the testing" and can alternatively reference studies conducted by other brands, she says.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is low-quality?

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