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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer learned a supermarket was offering a recent product collection that looked comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael rushed to her closest store to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

The sleek blue packaging and gold cap of the two products look remarkably comparable. Although she has not tested the luxury cream, she claims she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been purchasing lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK consumers say they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, as per a February poll.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy established brands and provide budget-friendly options to luxury items. They typically have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare professionals say certain dupes to luxury brands are good standard and aid make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that higher-priced is always better," says dermatology expert a doctor. "Not all affordable beauty label is inferior - and not all high-end skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really impressive," adds a skincare commentator, who hosts a program featuring public figures.

A lot of of the products based on high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will be effective," he says. "They will handle the fundamentals to a acceptable level."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're likely going to be alright in using a dupe or something which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she says.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Container'

Yet the experts also suggest buyers check details and state that costlier products are at times worthy of the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not only paying for the name and promotion - sometimes the elevated price also comes from the components and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the technology used to create the item, and tests into the item's performance, Dr Belmo explains.

Facialist another professional suggests it's important questioning how some alternatives can be offered so at a low cost.

In some cases, she believes they might include less effective components that don't have as numerous positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major question mark is 'How is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott notes in some cases he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a established label but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he warned.

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Regarding more complicated items or those with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises selecting more specialised brands.

She explains these typically have been subjected to comprehensive tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare products need to be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, notes expert another professional.

If the company states about the effectiveness of the product, it requires data to support it, "but the seller doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can instead reference studies completed by other brands, she clarifies.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Ingredients on the label of the container are ordered by amount. "The baddies that you need to look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up