Rachael Parnell
Upon hearing Rachael Parnell found out a discounter was launching a recent skincare range that appeared akin to items from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".
She rushed to her nearest store to purchase the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml cream.
Its streamlined blue packaging and gold top of each items look remarkably alike. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's satisfied by the product so far.
Rachael has been using skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.
More than a quarter of UK consumers say they've purchased a skincare or makeup lookalike. This jumps to nearly half among younger adults, as per a recently published survey.
Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate established brands and provide affordable options to luxury products. These products frequently have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the components can vary significantly.
Victoria Woollaston
Skincare specialists say some substitutes to luxury brands are good quality and assist make skincare cheaper.
"It is not true that costlier is invariably more effective," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."
"Some [dupes] are truly impressive," says a podcast host, who runs a podcast featuring public figures.
Many of the items modeled on high-end labels "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he remarks.
Scott McGlynn
Skin specialist another professional believes alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.
"These products will do the job," he comments. "These items will handle the essentials to a satisfactory standard."
A consultant dermatologist, suggests you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.
"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is very low cost because there's not much that can be problematic," she adds.
However the professionals also advise consumers investigate and say that more expensive products are at times worth the premium price.
With high-end skincare, you're not just funding the label and advertising - often the elevated price also comes from the formula and their standard, the concentration of the active ingredient, the technology employed to create the product, and trials into the products' effectiveness, she says.
Skin therapist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so inexpensively.
Occasionally, she says they could include less effective components that lack as many benefits for the skin, or the components might not be as high-quality.
"One major question mark is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she says.
Commentator McGlynn admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear similar to a established label but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".
"Do not be sold by the packaging," he added.
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Regarding advanced items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not created correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends using more specialised labels.
The expert says these typically have been subjected to comprehensive studies to evaluate how effective they are.
Beauty items are required to be tested before they can be available in the UK, says expert another professional.
If the company advertises about the performance of the product, it requires research to back it up, "however the seller does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can alternatively reference studies conducted by other companies, she adds.
Is there any ingredients that could indicate a item is inferior?
Ingredients on the label of the container are listed by amount. "The baddies that you need to avoid… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up
