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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper found out a discounter was launching a new skincare range that looked similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael dashed to her nearest outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

The sleek blue tube and gold lid of each creams look strikingly comparable. Although she has not tested the luxury cream, she claims she's pleased by the alternative so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers state they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among younger adults, based on a recently published poll.

Dupes are beauty items that imitate bigger name labels and offer affordable options to premium products. These products frequently have comparable labels and design, but sometimes the formulas can vary significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists contend many substitutes to high-end brands are good standard and aid make skincare less expensive.

"It is not true that costlier is necessarily more effective," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the best."

"Some [dupes] are really amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a program with famous people.

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

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will do the basics to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can cut costs when searching for simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in using a lookalike or something which is very low cost because there's not much that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

However the specialists also advise shoppers check details and state that more expensive items are sometimes worth the extra money.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not only paying for the brand and promotion - sometimes the elevated price also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology utilized to produce the product, and tests into the products' efficacy, the expert explains.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman says it's important considering how some dupes can be priced so cheaply.

In some cases, she states they may have filler ingredients that lack as many advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The key doubt is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host McGlynn notes sometimes he's purchased skincare items that look similar to a big-name label but the item has "no connection to the original".

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

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For potent items or ones with components that can irritate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she recommends using more specialised labels.

She explains these typically have been through comprehensive studies to assess how effective they are.

Beauty products need to be evaluated before they can be sold in the UK, says expert another professional.

If the label states about the efficacy of the product, it requires evidence to verify it, "but the seller does not always have to conduct the trials" and can instead reference evidence done by different brands, she says.

Examine the Back of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the label of the bottle are listed by amount. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up