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Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper learned a supermarket was selling a recent beauty line that looked similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper dashed to her closest shop to pick up the supermarket face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml item.

The sleek blue packaging and gold lid of each creams look strikingly alike. While she has never tried the luxury cream, she says she's pleased by the alternative so far.

She has been purchasing skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK consumers say they've bought a skincare or makeup lookalike. This rises to 44% among younger adults, as per a recently published poll.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy bigger name brands and provide cost-effective alternatives to premium items. These products typically have similar branding and containers, but sometimes the formulas can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare professionals argue certain dupes to luxury labels are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably more effective," states dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all affordable product line is inferior - and not every luxury skincare product is the top."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a show about famous people.

Many of the products based on high-end brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry believes alternatives are fine to use for "simple routines" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Alternatives will do the job," he says. "These items will perform the essentials to a satisfactory level."

A consultant dermatologist, advises you can save money when seeking simple-formula items like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a lookalike or a product which is very low cost because there's not much that can cause issues," she says.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging'

However the professionals also suggest buyers investigate and note that costlier products are occasionally worth the premium price.

With premium skincare, you're not only funding the label and marketing - at times the higher price tag also stems from the formula and their standard, the potency of the effective element, the research employed to create the item, and trials into the item's efficacy, she says.

Facialist Rhian Truman argues it's important questioning how certain dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she says they could include less effective components that do not provide as significant positive effects for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"One major question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she asks.

Commentator Scott says sometimes he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a well-known label but the item has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Don't be sold by the outer appearance," he added.

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For more complicated items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises sticking to more specialised brands.

She says these will likely have been through costly trials to assess how effective they are.

Skincare products must be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the company advertises about the efficacy of the product, it needs data to back it up, "but the seller doesn't necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead cite testing conducted by other brands, she adds.

Check the Back of the Pack

Is there any components that could indicate a product is poor?

Ingredients on the label of the tube are ordered by amount. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up