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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper found out a supermarket was selling a new skincare range that looked akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest outlet to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

Its sleek blue container and gold top of both items look strikingly similar. And though Rachael has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK consumers state they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, based on a recently published survey.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate established brands and provide budget-friendly substitutes to luxury items. They frequently have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the formulas can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty specialists say many dupes to luxury brands are good quality and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think costlier is always superior," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all budget skincare brand is inferior - and not all high-end beauty item is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast about public figures.

Many of the products inspired by luxury labels "run out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "They will do the essentials to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in using a lookalike or something which is quite affordable because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

But the professionals also recommend buyers investigate and note that more expensive products are sometimes worth the premium price.

Regarding high-end beauty products, you're not only paying for the label and promotion - often the higher price also comes from the formula and their grade, the potency of the key component, the research employed to develop the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, Dr Belmo notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's valuable questioning how certain dupes can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they might include filler ingredients that lack as significant benefits for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major question mark is 'How is it so cheap?'" she says.

Expert Scott notes sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a established label but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

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

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Regarding potent products or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist advises sticking to research-backed companies.

She says these probably have been subjected to costly trials to assess how effective they are.

Skincare products must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

When the brand states about the efficacy of the item, it needs evidence to support it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to conduct the testing" and can instead cite testing done by different firms, she adds.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the tube are listed by amount. "The baddies that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up