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Rachael Parnell

When a consumer found out a discounter was selling a recent skincare range that seemed akin to offerings from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her nearest shop to buy 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 container and gold cap of the two products look noticeably comparable. While Rachael has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers state they've bought a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This rises to 44% among younger adults, based on a recent survey.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate well-known labels and provide cost-effective options to high-end products. These products often have comparable labels and design, but occasionally the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Always Superior'

Skincare specialists argue certain dupes to luxury brands are good quality and aid make skincare less expensive.

"I don't think costlier is always superior," states dermatology expert a doctor. "Not every affordable product line is poor - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really impressive," adds a podcast host, who presents a podcast featuring celebrities.

Many of the products inspired by luxury brands "run out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he says. "They will perform the basics to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, advises you can save money when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

However the experts also suggest buyers investigate and say that costlier items are at times worthy of the premium price.

With luxury skincare, you're not just funding the name and promotion - sometimes the increased cost also comes from the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the key component, the research employed to create the item, and trials into the products' efficacy, she explains.

Facialist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be offered so inexpensively.

In some cases, she says they may contain less effective components that lack as significant advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

"One big doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Expert McGlynn admits sometimes he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a big-name brand but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the premium version".

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

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Regarding advanced products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, she advises sticking to medical-grade brands.

She states these will likely have been through comprehensive trials to assess how successful they are.

Beauty items must be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires data to back it up, "but the manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference studies done by other firms, she says.

Check the Back of the Container

Is there any components that could signal a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are arranged by concentration. "The baddies that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up