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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell heard a supermarket was offering a new beauty line that looked comparable to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest shop to purchase the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue container and gold cap of the two products look noticeably comparable. Although Rachael has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, based on a February survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate well-known companies and provide budget-friendly alternatives to premium products. They often have alike names and packaging, but sometimes the components can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals argue many alternatives to luxury labels are decent standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think more expensive is necessarily better," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable product line is poor - and not all luxury skincare product is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a show featuring celebrities.

Numerous of the products inspired by luxury brands "sell out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional argues dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will do the fundamentals to a satisfactory degree."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be alright in using a budget alternative or something which is fairly affordable because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

However the experts also advise shoppers do their research and state that more expensive products are at times worth the premium price.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just funding the label and advertising - sometimes the increased cost also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the research utilized to create the item, and trials into the item's performance, the expert says.

Facialist Rhian Truman says it's valuable questioning how certain dupes can be priced so inexpensively.

Occasionally, she believes they could have bulking agents that lack as many advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

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

Podcast host McGlynn notes sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a well-known label but the item has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the outer appearance," he added.

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Regarding more complicated products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist suggests sticking to medical-grade labels.

She states these will likely have been through expensive studies to evaluate how successful they are.

Beauty products must be tested before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company states about the effectiveness of the product, it requires data to back it up, "but the brand doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead reference testing conducted by different companies, she clarifies.

Read the Ingredients List of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is low-quality?

Components on the list of the container are arranged by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up