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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was launching a recent beauty line that seemed akin to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her local outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold top of both creams look noticeably similar. While she has not tested the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the dupe so far.

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

More than a quarter of UK buyers report they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to nearly half among 18-34 year olds, according to a recent poll.

Alternatives are beauty items that copy bigger name brands and provide budget-friendly options to luxury products. These products typically have comparable names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty specialists contend certain dupes to luxury brands are good standard and assist make skincare less expensive.

"It is not true that more expensive is always more effective," says skin specialist one expert. "Not all low-budget beauty label is inferior - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who runs a program about celebrities.

Many of the items inspired by luxury brands "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks alternatives are fine to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will be effective," he says. "These items will handle the basics to a reasonable degree."

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

"If you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is quite inexpensive because there's very little that can go wrong," she adds.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Container'

But the experts also advise buyers do their research and note that higher-priced items are sometimes worthy of the extra money.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the name and marketing - sometimes the increased price also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the key component, the technology employed to create the item, and tests into the item's efficacy, she says.

Skin therapist she suggests it's worth thinking about how some dupes can be sold so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she believes they may have less effective components that don't have as numerous benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected.

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

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the item has "no connection to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the container," he cautioned.

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Regarding potent items or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist advises using research-backed companies.

The expert states these will likely have been through costly trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company states about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to support it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to do the trials" and can instead reference testing conducted by different brands, she adds.

Examine the Label of the Container

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a item is low-quality?

Components on the label of the container are ordered by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up