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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper learned a supermarket was offering a recent product collection that seemed comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her closest outlet to purchase the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.

The sleek blue tube and gold cap of each creams look strikingly comparable. While Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she states she's satisfied by the product so far.

Rachael has been buying lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a 25% of UK buyers say they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recently published study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that imitate bigger name companies and present budget-friendly alternatives to high-end products. They frequently have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Superior'

Beauty specialists say certain dupes to premium labels are reasonable standard and aid make beauty routines more affordable.

"I don't think more expensive is invariably better," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not every affordable beauty label is poor - and not all premium beauty item is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are truly amazing," notes Scott McGlynn, who presents a show about famous people.

Many of the items modeled on luxury brands "run out so quickly, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert another professional thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will be effective," he explains. "They will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple product then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a dupe or something which is quite affordable because there's not much that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Container'

However the specialists also suggest consumers investigate and say that costlier items are occasionally worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not only paying for the name and advertising - sometimes the increased price also comes from the formula and their standard, the potency of the key component, the technology utilized to develop the item, and studies into the products' efficacy, the expert says.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman says it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Occasionally, she believes they could include less effective components that lack as numerous benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One major question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Commentator McGlynn says on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a big-name label but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be convinced by the packaging," he cautioned.

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For advanced items or those with ingredients that can irritate the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised labels.

The expert says these will likely have been subjected to costly trials to assess how successful they are.

Skincare products are required to be assessed before they can be available in the UK, says expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand advertises about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to back it up, "however the seller does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite evidence completed by different brands, she says.

Read the Label of the Pack

Is there any components that could suggest a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the back of the container are listed by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up