🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out a discounter was selling a fresh product collection that appeared akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her nearest shop to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml item.

Its streamlined blue container and gold lid of each items look remarkably similar. While Rachael has not used the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a quarter of UK consumers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, as per a recent survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic bigger name labels and offer cost-effective alternatives to premium items. These products typically have alike labels and design, but sometimes the components can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts argue certain dupes to high-end brands are decent standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is necessarily better," states dermatology expert one expert. "Not all affordable beauty label is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are absolutely impressive," adds a podcast host, who presents a podcast about celebrities.

Many of the products inspired by high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional argues alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will be effective," he explains. "They will do the basics to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is quite low cost because there's not much that can go wrong," she explains.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the professionals also recommend buyers investigate and say that more expensive items are sometimes worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - sometimes the increased price also stems from the formula and their grade, the strength of the key component, the research employed to produce the product, and tests into the item's performance, she notes.

Facialist another professional argues it's important questioning how certain alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

In some cases, she states they might have filler ingredients that don't have as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The big uncertainty is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott notes on occasion he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a big-name label but the item has "no resemblance to the original".

"Do not be fooled by the packaging," he warned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

Regarding advanced items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist suggests sticking to medical-grade labels.

She explains these will likely have been through costly trials to determine how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the performance of the item, it must have evidence to support it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference evidence done by other brands, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could indicate a item is low-quality?

Components on the back of the tube are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up