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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned a discounter was launching a fresh beauty line that looked comparable to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her nearest shop to purchase the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of both creams look noticeably similar. While Rachael has never tried the luxury cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK shoppers report they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a February study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy well-known labels and present cost-effective options to luxury items. They typically have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the components can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists contend some substitutes to premium labels are reasonable standard and aid make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily superior," says skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget beauty label is bad - and not all high-end skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are truly excellent," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a program with celebrities.

Numerous of the products modeled on high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will be effective," he says. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when seeking simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

But the experts also recommend shoppers do their research and note that higher-priced products are occasionally worth the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only funding the label and promotion - at times the higher cost also is due to the components and their grade, the potency of the key component, the research employed to produce the product, and tests into the products' effectiveness, the expert explains.

Facialist Rhian Truman suggests it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she says they may include bulking agents that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The big doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Commentator Scott notes in some cases he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a established label but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

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

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For potent items or those with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not made accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist suggests selecting medical-grade brands.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to comprehensive trials to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the label states about the efficacy of the product, it must have data to support it, "but the manufacturer doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead use testing done by other companies, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

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

Ingredients on the label of the tube are listed by quantity. "The baddies that you want to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up