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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned a discounter was selling a fresh product collection that appeared akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael hurried to her closest outlet to purchase the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml item.

Its sleek blue container and gold cap of the two products look noticeably comparable. While Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

Rachael has been purchasing skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This rises to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, according to a February study.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate established labels and provide affordable options to premium items. They typically have comparable labels and design, but in some cases the formulas can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts contend many alternatives to luxury brands are decent standard and assist make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think higher-priced is necessarily superior," comments dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget beauty label is inferior - and not every premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely excellent," adds a podcast host, who presents a program about famous people.

Many of the products modeled on high-end brands "sell out so quickly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks alternatives are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

However the specialists also recommend consumers do their research and state that higher-priced products are at times worthy of the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just covering the name and marketing - at times the higher cost also is due to the ingredients and their grade, the concentration of the key component, the technology utilized to develop the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, she explains.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman argues it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she states they may have less effective components that don't have as many advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The major question mark is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Commentator McGlynn notes on occasion he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a established label but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Do not be convinced by the outer appearance," he warned.

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For advanced products or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests sticking to more specialised brands.

She states these typically have been subjected to costly tests to determine how effective they are.

Skincare items are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the performance of the item, it requires research to support it, "but the seller does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can instead use testing completed by different companies, she adds.

Check the Back of the Pack

Are there any components that could suggest a product is poor?

Ingredients on the label of the bottle are arranged by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up