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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper learned a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that looked comparable to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael hurried to her closest store to purchase the supermarket face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml item.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold lid of both items look noticeably alike. And though she has never tried the premium cream, she claims she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

Over a quarter of UK buyers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, as per a February poll.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name labels and provide cost-effective options to premium items. They typically have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Better'

Skincare experts contend many dupes to high-end labels are decent standard and help make skincare cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably better," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not all premium beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," says a podcast host, who hosts a show about public figures.

A lot of of the items based on luxury labels "sell out so quickly, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist a doctor argues alternatives are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory level."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Box'

However the specialists also suggest buyers do their research and say that more expensive products are sometimes worth the extra money.

With high-end skincare, you're not just funding the name and promotion - sometimes the elevated price also is due to the ingredients and their grade, the strength of the key component, the technology used to create the product, and studies into the item's performance, the expert notes.

Facialist another professional suggests it's important questioning how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Occasionally, she states they might have less effective components that lack as significant advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The key doubt is 'How is it so cheap?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a established label but the item has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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For more complicated items or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not created properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she recommends sticking to research-backed labels.

The expert states these typically have been subjected to costly tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Beauty products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label makes claims about the efficacy of the product, it requires research to back it up, "but the seller does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can alternatively cite evidence conducted by different firms, she adds.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

Is there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Ingredients on the label of the container are ordered by concentration. "Potential irritants that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up