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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper found out a supermarket was offering a recent beauty line that looked akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper hurried to her closest outlet to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its smooth blue tube and gold cap of each items look remarkably comparable. While Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK consumers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate established brands and offer cost-effective options to high-end products. These products typically have comparable names and packaging, but in some cases the components can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare specialists say some dupes to luxury brands are decent quality and help make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think costlier is necessarily more effective," states dermatology expert one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is poor - and not all high-end beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are truly impressive," says Scott McGlynn, who hosts a program with famous people.

Numerous of the products based on high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

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

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's minimal that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also advise shoppers check details and state that more expensive items are at times worth the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not only covering the brand and advertising - at times the elevated cost also stems from the formula and their standard, the strength of the effective element, the technology used to develop the item, and tests into the item's efficacy, the expert notes.

Skin therapist another professional suggests it's worth considering how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

In some cases, she believes they might include filler ingredients that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major question mark is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Commentator McGlynn says sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding potent products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist advises sticking to medical-grade brands.

She states these probably have been subjected to costly tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare products are required to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, says consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company advertises about the performance of the product, it must have evidence to verify it, "but the brand does not always have to do the testing" and can alternatively use evidence conducted by different firms, she says.

Check the Label of the Pack

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

Components on the label of the tube are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you should be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up