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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out a discounter was launching a fresh product collection that looked akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She dashed to her nearest outlet to buy the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of both items look remarkably similar. While she has not tested the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

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

More than a quarter of UK shoppers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent poll.

Dupes are skincare products that copy bigger name brands and present budget-friendly alternatives to premium items. These products often have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Beauty specialists argue many substitutes to premium brands are decent standard and assist make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think more expensive is invariably superior," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not all premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly excellent," adds a podcast host, who presents a podcast with famous people.

Many of the products inspired by luxury brands "sell out so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional argues alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can spend less when seeking simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

But the specialists also advise buyers do their research and note that higher-priced items are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

With premium beauty products, you're not just funding the brand and marketing - sometimes the increased cost also comes from the formula and their quality, the strength of the key component, the science used to develop the product, and tests into the item's efficacy, she says.

Beauty expert she says it's worth questioning how certain alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.

Sometimes, she says they might have filler ingredients that lack as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"One major question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host McGlynn admits in some cases he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a established brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Don't be sold by the container," he added.

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Regarding more complicated products or ones with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends sticking to more specialised companies.

She says these typically have been through expensive tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare products are required to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires research to back it up, "however the brand doesn't always have to do the trials" and can alternatively cite testing completed by other companies, she adds.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up