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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard a discounter was launching a new beauty line that appeared similar to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael rushed to her closest outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of the two items look remarkably comparable. Although Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from high street stores 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 lookalike. This increases to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, according to a recently published study.

Alternatives are skincare products that copy well-known companies and offer cost-effective alternatives to luxury items. These products often have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the components can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Necessarily Superior'

Skincare specialists contend certain substitutes to high-end labels are decent quality and aid make beauty routines cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is necessarily more effective," states consultant dermatologist one expert. "Not every budget beauty label is inferior - and not all high-end skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are really amazing," adds a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast with public figures.

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

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry believes dupes are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Dupes will be effective," he explains. "These items will perform the essentials to a acceptable level."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can cut costs when seeking simple-formula items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Packaging'

Yet the experts also recommend consumers do their research and state that costlier items are occasionally worthy of the extra money.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not just paying for the brand and promotion - at times the higher cost also is due to the formula and their grade, the potency of the active ingredient, the research used to create the item, and studies into the item's efficacy, the expert says.

Skin therapist she suggests it's important questioning how some alternatives can be offered so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they could have less effective components that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"One major doubt is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott says in some cases he's purchased beauty products that appear similar to a big-name label but the actual formula has "little similarity to the original".

"Do not be sold by the packaging," he added.

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For more complicated products or those with ingredients that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate advises selecting research-backed labels.

She says these probably have been through comprehensive tests to assess how effective they are.

Beauty items must be tested before they can be available in the UK, notes expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label states about the effectiveness of the item, it must have research to back it up, "however the brand does not always have to perform the trials" and can alternatively use studies conducted by other companies, she says.

Examine the Ingredients List of the Container

Are there any ingredients that could signal a item is poor?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you should avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up