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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was launching a new product collection that seemed similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her local outlet to pick up the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of both products look noticeably similar. Although Rachael has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the product so far.

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

Over a fourth of UK consumers state they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44% among millennials and Gen Z, according to a February study.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name companies and offer affordable alternatives to luxury items. These products frequently have similar names and packaging, but sometimes the ingredients can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty professionals say some dupes to premium labels are good standard and aid make beauty routines less expensive.

"It is not true that more expensive is always more effective," states skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all budget product line is poor - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely excellent," notes a skincare commentator, who presents a show with famous people.

Many of the items based on high-end labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional thinks dupes are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will do the job," he comments. "These items will handle the fundamentals to a acceptable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when searching for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're buying a simple product then you're likely going to be alright in using a budget alternative or something which is fairly affordable because there's not much that can be problematic," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

But the specialists also recommend shoppers do their research and say that costlier products are at times worthy of the premium price.

With premium beauty products, you're not only covering the name and promotion - often the elevated price tag also is due to the components and their quality, the potency of the key component, the research employed to produce the product, and tests into the item's effectiveness, she says.

Facialist another professional suggests it's valuable considering how certain alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

In some cases, she states they could contain bulking agents that don't have as significant advantages for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"One big uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Commentator Scott admits in some cases he's bought beauty products that look similar to a established brand but the actual formula has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he warned.

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Regarding more complicated items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends sticking to research-backed brands.

She explains these probably have been through costly studies to assess how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be tested before they can be marketed in the UK, notes consultant dermatologist another professional.

If the label advertises about the efficacy of the item, it requires evidence to verify it, "however the manufacturer doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can alternatively reference testing conducted by other firms, she adds.

Read the Label of the Container

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

Components on the back of the bottle are listed by amount. "Potential irritants that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up