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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard a supermarket was launching a recent product collection that looked similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

She rushed to her closest store to pick up the Lacura face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The streamlined blue container and gold lid of both items look strikingly alike. Although she has not used the premium cream, she states she's pleased by the dupe so far.

She has been purchasing beauty alternatives from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK consumers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, according to a February study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name labels and provide budget-friendly options to high-end products. They frequently have similar labels and design, but in some cases the components can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Beauty experts say some substitutes to premium labels are decent standard and help make beauty routines less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is necessarily more effective," says skin specialist a doctor. "Not all budget product line is bad - and not all luxury skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are really amazing," notes a podcast host, who presents a show with celebrities.

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

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he says. "They will handle the fundamentals to a reasonable level."

Another skin doctor, thinks you can spend less when you're looking for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is very affordable because there's minimal that can cause issues," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

But the specialists also recommend buyers investigate and state that higher-priced products are occasionally worth the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only paying for the name and promotion - at times the higher price tag also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the research used to create the item, and trials into the products' efficacy, the expert explains.

Facialist she suggests it's valuable thinking about how some alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they might have less effective components that don't have as many advantages for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"One major uncertainty is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott notes in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a well-known label but the product itself has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Do not be convinced by the container," he warned.

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For more complicated products or those with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist recommends sticking to more specialised labels.

The expert explains these typically have been through expensive tests to determine how effective they are.

Skincare products need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the performance of the item, it must have research to verify it, "however the brand doesn't necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can instead use studies conducted by other brands, she clarifies.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a product is poor?

Ingredients on the back of the tube are listed by amount. "Potential irritants that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up