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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard a supermarket was selling a fresh beauty line that seemed similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper dashed to her closest store to pick up the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold lid of each products look strikingly similar. Although Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she states she's pleased by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK consumers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to nearly half among younger adults, according to a February study.

Alternatives are skincare products that mimic established companies and present affordable alternatives to high-end items. These products often have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty experts say some alternatives to premium labels are reasonable standard and assist make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion higher-priced is invariably better," states skin specialist one expert. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are really excellent," says a skincare commentator, who hosts a program about celebrities.

A lot of of the items modeled on luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor a doctor argues dupes are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're likely going to be okay in opting for a budget alternative or something which is very inexpensive because there's very little that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

But the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and state that costlier items are occasionally worth the additional cost.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just funding the brand and advertising - often the higher price tag also comes from the components and their standard, the concentration of the effective element, the research utilized to develop the product, and trials into the item's effectiveness, the expert notes.

Facialist Rhian Truman says it's important questioning how some alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.

In some cases, she says they might include bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"One big doubt is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Expert McGlynn says sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a established label but the item has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be fooled by the packaging," he added.

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Regarding potent products or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends using research-backed labels.

The expert says these probably have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how successful they are.

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

If the label states about the performance of the product, it requires data to support it, "but the seller doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can alternatively reference testing conducted by other companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the label of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up