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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer heard a discounter was selling a new beauty line that seemed similar to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael rushed to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the high-end 50ml item.

Its sleek blue tube and gold lid of the two creams look remarkably similar. Although she has not tested the luxury cream, she states she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK buyers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, based on a recently published study.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate well-known labels and provide cost-effective substitutes to high-end products. They typically have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the components can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Beauty experts contend some dupes to luxury brands are reasonable standard and aid make skincare less expensive.

"I don't think costlier is necessarily more effective," comments dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget beauty label is bad - and not every high-end skincare product is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," says a podcast host, who hosts a show featuring famous people.

Numerous of the products based on high-end labels "run out so rapidly, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry argues dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "They will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can save money when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or a product which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Packaging'

But the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and note that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

With premium beauty products, you're not only paying for the label and promotion - at times the higher cost also stems from the components and their quality, the concentration of the active ingredient, the science employed to produce the item, and tests into the item's performance, she notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's valuable thinking about how certain alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they could contain filler ingredients that don't have as many benefits for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"One major doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host McGlynn admits in some cases he's bought skincare items that look similar to a well-known label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the original".

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

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For advanced products or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist recommends using more specialised labels.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to costly trials to determine how successful they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be available in the UK, notes expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the brand makes claims about the performance of the item, it requires evidence to back it up, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can alternatively reference evidence done by different companies, she adds.

Examine the Label of the Bottle

Is there any components that could indicate a item is poor?

Ingredients on the back of the container are arranged by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up