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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned a discounter was offering a new product collection that seemed comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest store to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of each products look strikingly similar. While she has not tested the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK buyers report they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recent poll.

Lookalikes are skincare products that mimic well-known companies and provide budget-friendly substitutes to high-end products. These products typically have comparable labels and design, but sometimes the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Superior'

Skincare professionals argue some substitutes to luxury brands are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think more expensive is always superior," states dermatology expert a doctor. "Not every budget skincare brand is bad - and not every luxury beauty item is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," adds Scott McGlynn, who presents a program with famous people.

Numerous of the products based on high-end labels "sell out so rapidly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

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

"These products will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

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

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is very affordable because there's minimal that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Box'

Yet the professionals also recommend shoppers investigate and say that costlier items are sometimes worth the extra money.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not only paying for the brand and advertising - at times the increased cost also stems from the formula and their standard, the potency of the key component, the science employed to develop the product, and tests into the products' performance, she says.

Facialist she says it's valuable questioning how some alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she believes they might have bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

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

Expert McGlynn notes sometimes he's purchased skincare items that appear similar to a well-known brand but the product itself has "no connection to the original".

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

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Regarding more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not made properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to medical-grade labels.

She explains these probably have been subjected to costly tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products must be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it must have research to verify it, "however the brand doesn't necessarily have to do the testing" and can alternatively cite evidence completed by different brands, she adds.

Check the Ingredients List of the Pack

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

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up