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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper learned a supermarket was launching a fresh product collection that seemed comparable to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest outlet to buy the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml item.

The streamlined blue container and gold top of both products look strikingly comparable. Although Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK consumers state they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This rises to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recent study.

Dupes are skincare products that copy well-known companies and present affordable options to high-end products. They typically have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts contend many dupes to premium brands are good standard and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is necessarily more effective," says consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not all budget beauty label is bad - and not every high-end beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly excellent," says a podcast host, who runs a podcast featuring famous people.

Numerous of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will do the job," he explains. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

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

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Box'

Yet the specialists also advise buyers do their research and say that higher-priced products are occasionally worth the additional cost.

With premium beauty products, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - at times the higher cost also stems from the components and their grade, the potency of the key component, the technology utilized to create the product, and studies into the products' performance, she explains.

Facialist Rhian Truman argues it's worth thinking about how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they may contain bulking agents that do not provide as significant benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

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

Commentator McGlynn admits in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear comparable to a well-known brand but the item has "little similarity to the original".

"Don't be sold by the container," he cautioned.

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For more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she advises using research-backed companies.

She explains these typically have been through costly trials to assess how successful they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, notes consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it needs research to support it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to perform the testing" and can alternatively reference studies completed by different firms, she clarifies.

Read the Back of the Pack

Is there any components that could signal a product is poor?

Components on the label of the container are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up