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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper found out a discounter was offering a new product collection that appeared similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her closest store to pick up the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The streamlined blue container and gold cap of both creams look strikingly comparable. While she has not used the luxury cream, she states she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers state they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This rises to 44% among 18-34 year olds, based on a February survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name companies and offer affordable options to premium items. They typically have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty professionals say certain dupes to premium labels are decent standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably better," comments consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every budget beauty label is poor - and not every luxury skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are truly amazing," adds a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast featuring celebrities.

Numerous of the products modeled on luxury brands "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

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

"Alternatives will be effective," he says. "These items will handle the basics to a acceptable degree."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is very low cost because there's not much that can go wrong," she says.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

But the experts also suggest buyers investigate and say that more expensive products are at times worth the additional cost.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not only paying for the label and marketing - sometimes the elevated cost also stems from the formula and their standard, the concentration of the active ingredient, the science used to produce the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, the expert says.

Skin therapist another professional says it's worth considering how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she states they may have filler ingredients that do not provide as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One major doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Podcast host McGlynn says in some cases he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the premium version".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he warned.

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Regarding advanced items or those with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she advises using medical-grade brands.

The expert says these typically have been through costly studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Skincare products must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the brand states about the efficacy of the product, it requires data to back it up, "however the seller doesn't necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can instead use testing conducted by different companies, she adds.

Read the Ingredients List of the Pack

Are there any components that could suggest a item is inferior?

Components on the label of the container are arranged by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up