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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was launching a new skincare range that appeared similar to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

Rachael hurried to her nearest store to pick up the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its streamlined blue packaging and gold lid of each items look remarkably comparable. And though she has never tried the premium cream, she states she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a quarter of UK buyers report they've purchased a skincare or makeup alternative. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, based on a recently published study.

Dupes are beauty items that mimic bigger name companies and offer budget-friendly substitutes to premium products. They typically have alike branding and containers, but sometimes the components can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts contend many dupes to premium labels are reasonable standard and assist make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably better," states skin specialist a doctor. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not all premium skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are absolutely impressive," notes Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast with celebrities.

A lot of of the items based on luxury labels "sell out so fast, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks alternatives are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

"These products will serve a purpose," he says. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can cut costs when you're looking for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is very low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she says.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

However the specialists also advise shoppers check details and note that costlier products are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only covering the name and advertising - often the higher cost also is due to the ingredients and their grade, the concentration of the effective element, the science utilized to create the item, and tests into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo says.

Skin therapist she suggests it's valuable questioning how some dupes can be offered so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she says they may contain bulking agents that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"The major question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she remarks.

Podcast host Scott says on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a established brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the premium version".

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

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For more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the complexion if they're not formulated properly, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist recommends sticking to medical-grade labels.

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

Beauty products need to be tested before they can be available in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it must have research to support it, "but the manufacturer does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively use testing done by other companies, she says.

Read the Label of the Pack

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a item is inferior?

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