🔗 Share this article

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell heard a supermarket was launching a recent skincare range that looked akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael dashed to her local shop to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold cap of both creams look strikingly similar. Although she has not used the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a fourth of UK buyers state they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a February survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate bigger name companies and present budget-friendly substitutes to luxury products. They typically have alike labels and design, but in some cases the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts say some substitutes to high-end labels are decent standard and help make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that costlier is invariably more effective," states skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not every luxury beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a show about celebrities.

A lot of of the products inspired by luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional argues dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

"These products will do the job," he comments. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be fine in using a budget alternative or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

But the experts also recommend buyers do their research and state that higher-priced products are occasionally worth the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the brand and promotion - sometimes the increased cost also stems from the components and their standard, the potency of the effective element, the science employed to develop the product, and trials into the products' performance, she says.

Facialist Rhian Truman suggests it's valuable considering how some dupes can be sold so inexpensively.

In some cases, she states they might include bulking agents that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The big question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's purchased beauty products that look comparable to a well-known label but the product itself has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Do not be convinced by the packaging," he cautioned.

SimpleImages/Getty Images

For potent products or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate suggests selecting research-backed brands.

She explains these will likely have been subjected to costly trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Skincare items are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says consultant dermatologist another professional.

When the brand advertises about the efficacy of the product, it must have evidence to back it up, "but the seller doesn't always have to do the trials" and can alternatively use studies completed by different brands, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Container

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

Components on the back of the container are listed by concentration. "Potential irritants that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up