High-Street Beauty Lookalikes Might Save Shoppers Hundreds. Yet, Do Affordable Skincare Items Actually Work?

Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard a supermarket was offering a new beauty line that appeared similar to products from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She hurried to her local shop to purchase the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its streamlined blue tube and gold cap of each items look strikingly similar. While Rachael has never tried the premium cream, she states she's satisfied by the product so far.

Rachael has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for some time, and she's in good company.

More than a fourth of UK consumers report they've tried a skincare or makeup alternative. This increases to 44 percent among 18-34 year olds, as per a recently published survey.

Dupes are skincare products that mimic well-known brands and offer affordable substitutes to high-end items. These products typically have alike branding and containers, but in some cases the components can differ considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

Skincare experts say certain alternatives to luxury labels are reasonable standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"In my opinion costlier is invariably more effective," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget product line is inferior - and not every high-end skincare product is the best."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," notes a skincare commentator, who hosts a program with famous people.

Many of the products inspired by high-end labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry argues alternatives are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

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

Another skin doctor, suggests you can save money when searching for simple-formula items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a simple product then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly low cost because there's minimal that can go wrong," she says.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Packaging'

But the professionals also recommend consumers investigate and say that costlier items are sometimes worthy of the premium price.

With premium beauty products, you're not just funding the label and advertising - often the higher price tag also is due to the formula and their standard, the potency of the key component, the technology employed to create the product, and studies into the products' efficacy, the expert notes.

Skin therapist she says it's worth questioning how certain dupes can be sold so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they may include filler ingredients that lack as many advantages for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as high-quality.

"The major doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Commentator McGlynn says on occasion he's bought skincare items that look comparable to a well-known label but the actual formula has "no connection to the luxury product".

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

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Regarding more complicated items or those with ingredients that can aggravate the complexion if they're not created correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist recommends selecting medical-grade labels.

She states these typically have been through comprehensive tests to determine how successful they are.

Beauty products are required to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company advertises about the effectiveness of the item, it requires data to back it up, "but the brand doesn't always have to perform the testing" and can instead reference evidence completed by different companies, she says.

Check the Ingredients List of the Bottle

Is there any ingredients that could suggest a item is poor?

Components on the label of the container are arranged by amount. "Ingredients to avoid that you should look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up