🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out a discounter was launching a recent skincare range that seemed similar to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She dashed to her local store to pick up the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

The smooth blue tube and gold lid of each products look noticeably similar. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from high street stores and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

More than a 25% of UK buyers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, according to a recently published poll.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate well-known brands and provide cost-effective substitutes to luxury products. They frequently have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the formulas can change considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Better'

Beauty experts say many alternatives to luxury labels are good quality and assist make beauty routines more affordable.

"It is not true that higher-priced is necessarily superior," states skin specialist one expert. "Not all budget skincare brand is poor - and not every luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are really excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast featuring celebrities.

A lot of of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor believes dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will be effective," he comments. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory level."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can save money when you're looking for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be okay in using a lookalike or something which is quite inexpensive because there's minimal that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

However the experts also recommend buyers investigate and note that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With luxury skincare, you're not just paying for the brand and marketing - at times the increased price tag also is due to the formula and their standard, the concentration of the active ingredient, the science used to produce the product, and tests into the products' performance, she notes.

Beauty expert another professional argues it's valuable thinking about how certain alternatives can be priced so at a low cost.

In some cases, she believes they could have filler ingredients that do not provide as significant advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The major doubt is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Podcast host McGlynn says sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the item has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be convinced by the container," he warned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

Regarding more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate advises selecting medical-grade companies.

The expert explains these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty items are required to be tested before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

If the brand advertises about the efficacy of the product, it requires research to verify it, "but the manufacturer doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can alternatively use evidence done by other brands, she says.

Check the Label of the Pack

Is there any components that could signal a item is poor?

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