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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper heard a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that looked similar to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for a low price for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The smooth blue container and gold top of each creams look remarkably alike. While she has not tested the premium cream, she says she's impressed by the alternative so far.

She has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for years, and she's part of a trend.

More than a quarter of UK consumers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent study.

Alternatives are skincare products that imitate bigger name brands and provide cost-effective substitutes to luxury items. They typically have comparable branding and containers, but in some cases the ingredients can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare specialists argue some substitutes to luxury labels are decent quality and aid make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think higher-priced is necessarily more effective," comments skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not all budget product line is poor - and not all high-end skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are truly impressive," says a podcast host, who hosts a show about celebrities.

Many of the products inspired by luxury labels "sell out so quickly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert a doctor thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will do the job," he explains. "They will perform the fundamentals to a satisfactory standard."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can cut costs when searching for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple item then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a lookalike or a product which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can be problematic," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

But the professionals also suggest shoppers do their research and say that costlier products are occasionally worth the additional cost.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not only paying for the brand and promotion - at times the increased price also is due to the components and their quality, the concentration of the effective element, the technology employed to create the product, and studies into the item's effectiveness, Dr Belmo explains.

Beauty expert another professional argues it's valuable thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

In some cases, she states they may have filler ingredients that don't have as many positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"One big doubt is 'How is it so cheap?'" she says.

Commentator Scott notes on occasion he's bought beauty products that look comparable to a big-name label but the actual formula has "no connection to the original".

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

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For advanced items or ones with components that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, she advises sticking to research-backed brands.

She says these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to evaluate how successful they are.

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

If the label states about the performance of the product, it must have data to support it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to do the testing" and can instead reference studies done by other companies, she clarifies.

Examine the Label of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could indicate a product is inferior?

Ingredients on the label of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up