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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was selling a recent skincare range that looked similar to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her local shop to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of both items look remarkably similar. And though Rachael has not used the luxury cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

Over a quarter of UK shoppers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a recent study.

Lookalikes are beauty items that copy established brands and offer cost-effective options to premium products. They often have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the components can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Beauty specialists argue many substitutes to high-end labels are decent quality and aid make beauty routines more affordable.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably superior," says skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget beauty label is inferior - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a program with famous people.

A lot of of the products modeled on high-end labels "sell out so quickly, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional argues alternatives are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will do the basics to a satisfactory degree."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a budget alternative or a product which is quite affordable because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Sold by the Container'

But the experts also suggest shoppers investigate and state that more expensive products are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not just paying for the name and promotion - often the elevated cost also comes from the formula and their standard, the strength of the active ingredient, the science used to create the product, and trials into the item's performance, the expert explains.

Skin therapist she argues it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

Sometimes, she states they could have filler ingredients that don't have as significant advantages for the skin, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"One big question mark is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a established brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Do not be sold by the packaging," he cautioned.

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For potent products or ones with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not created properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to medical-grade labels.

She says these will likely have been through costly trials to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare products need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company advertises about the performance of the item, it needs data to verify it, "however the brand doesn't always have to do the trials" and can alternatively use testing completed by other firms, she says.

Examine the Back of the Bottle

Are there any components that could signal a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the tube are ordered by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up