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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out a discounter was launching a recent beauty line that seemed similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The smooth blue tube and gold top of each items look strikingly alike. Although she has not used the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers report they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to 44% among younger adults, as per a recent poll.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic established labels and present cost-effective substitutes to premium items. They often have similar labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts argue certain substitutes to premium labels are reasonable standard and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is always better," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget beauty label is poor - and not every luxury skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are really impressive," adds a podcast host, who hosts a podcast with public figures.

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

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry thinks dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the basics to a acceptable degree."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can save money when seeking simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can be problematic," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging'

However the specialists also suggest consumers investigate and note that higher-priced items are at times worth the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not just paying for the name and promotion - at times the elevated price also stems from the components and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the technology used to create the product, and trials into the item's performance, the expert explains.

Beauty expert she argues it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she states they might contain less effective components that lack as significant positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One big question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Commentator McGlynn notes sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

"Do not be sold by the container," he added.

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For advanced items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she recommends selecting research-backed labels.

She says these will likely have been subjected to expensive studies to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items must be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the company states about the effectiveness of the product, it must have evidence to back it up, "however the brand does not always have to do the trials" and can instead cite studies conducted by different companies, she clarifies.

Check the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a product is inferior?

Components on the list of the tube are listed by concentration. "The baddies that you want to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up