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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell heard a discounter was offering a fresh beauty line that seemed similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of each products look remarkably alike. While she has never tried the premium cream, she states she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been purchasing lookalike products from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK buyers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This rises to 44% among younger adults, as per a recently published poll.

Lookalikes are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and present affordable alternatives to premium items. They typically have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the components can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts argue certain alternatives to high-end labels are reasonable quality and aid make beauty routines less expensive.

"In my opinion costlier is necessarily better," states consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget beauty label is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a program about celebrities.

Numerous of the items modeled on high-end brands "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional believes alternatives are fine to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Alternatives will do the job," he says. "They will perform the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can save money when you're looking for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or something which is quite affordable because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Container'

However the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and state that more expensive products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just covering the label and advertising - often the increased price also is due to the formula and their quality, the potency of the active ingredient, the research employed to produce the item, and trials into the item's performance, she explains.

Skin therapist she suggests it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

In some cases, she states they could have less effective components that don't have as significant advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One key uncertainty is 'How is it so cheap?'" she says.

Commentator Scott says sometimes he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a big-name label but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding advanced products or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she advises using research-backed brands.

The expert states these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive trials to determine how effective they are.

Skincare items are required to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

If the company makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it requires research to support it, "but the seller does not necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead reference studies completed by other brands, she says.

Examine the Back of the Container

Are there any components that could indicate a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the label of the tube are arranged by quantity. "Potential irritants that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up