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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer learned a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that seemed similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper hurried to her local shop to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its smooth blue tube and gold top of the two creams look noticeably comparable. Although Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying beauty alternatives from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK buyers state they've bought a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, based on a February poll.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate established labels and offer cost-effective substitutes to premium items. They often have similar labels and design, but occasionally the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists say many alternatives to premium brands are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion more expensive is invariably better," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget product line is inferior - and not every high-end skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who runs a podcast featuring public figures.

Numerous of the items based on high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he says. "These items will perform the essentials to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is quite low cost because there's minimal that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

But the experts also suggest consumers do their research and state that costlier products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

With premium beauty products, you're not just funding the label and marketing - sometimes the higher price also comes from the components and their grade, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology utilized to produce the product, and tests into the products' performance, the expert notes.

Facialist she says it's worth considering how some alternatives can be sold so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she believes they may include filler ingredients that do not provide as significant positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The key doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Expert Scott says on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding potent items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to more specialised labels.

The expert states these probably have been subjected to expensive studies to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items are required to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist another professional.

When the brand advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires research to back it up, "however the brand does not always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite testing conducted by other companies, she says.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the back of the tube are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up