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Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell learned a discounter was selling a new beauty line that looked similar to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her closest outlet to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The smooth blue packaging and gold top of the two creams look strikingly comparable. While she has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

She has been purchasing skincare dupes from popular shops and grocery stores for a long time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK consumers state they've tried a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a February study.

Alternatives are beauty items that copy well-known companies and present cost-effective alternatives to high-end items. These products typically have comparable labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Superior'

Beauty specialists say some dupes to high-end brands are decent quality and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion more expensive is necessarily more effective," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not all low-budget beauty label is poor - and not all luxury beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes a podcast host, who runs a show featuring famous people.

Many of the items based on luxury labels "sell out so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks alternatives are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he says. "These items will perform the essentials to a satisfactory standard."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can save money when seeking simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is very inexpensive because there's very little that can be problematic," she explains.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

However the experts also suggest shoppers investigate and note that more expensive products are at times worthy of the extra money.

Regarding high-end skincare, you're not only covering the name and marketing - at times the higher cost also is due to the ingredients and their standard, the potency of the active ingredient, the science employed to create the item, and studies into the products' effectiveness, she says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be offered so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they may include filler ingredients that lack as many benefits for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The major doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott notes in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the product itself has "little similarity to the original".

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

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Regarding more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist advises selecting medical-grade brands.

She explains these probably have been subjected to expensive trials to determine how effective they are.

Skincare items must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes skin doctor another professional.

When the brand makes claims about the performance of the product, it needs evidence to support it, "however the brand doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead reference evidence conducted by other firms, she says.

Read the Back of the Pack

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is inferior?

Components on the label of the tube are arranged by concentration. "Potential irritants that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up