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Rachael Parnell

When one shopper heard a discounter was launching a recent beauty line that seemed comparable to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper rushed to her local outlet to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue tube and gold lid of both creams look noticeably similar. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from mainstream retailers and grocery stores for a long time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a quarter of UK consumers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a February survey.

Lookalikes are beauty items that copy well-known labels and present cost-effective substitutes to premium products. These products often have similar labels and design, but in some cases the ingredients can vary substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Is Not Always Better'

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

"In my opinion more expensive is invariably superior," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every luxury skincare product is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are truly excellent," adds a skincare commentator, who runs a program about public figures.

Many of the items inspired by high-end labels "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Medical expert Ross Perry thinks dupes are suitable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will do the job," he explains. "These items will do the basics to a acceptable level."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're likely going to be fine in opting for a dupe or something which is fairly inexpensive because there's not much that can go wrong," she adds.

'Do Not Be Swayed by the Box'

But the professionals also suggest consumers check details and note that costlier products are occasionally worth the premium price.

Regarding luxury beauty products, you're not just paying for the label and promotion - often the higher cost also is due to the components and their quality, the concentration of the key component, the science employed to develop the product, and tests into the products' performance, the expert notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman suggests it's worth thinking about how some alternatives can be priced so at a low cost.

Occasionally, she states they might contain bulking agents that don't have as significant benefits for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One big uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott admits sometimes he's purchased skincare items that appear comparable to a established label but the item has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be fooled by the packaging," he added.

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For potent items or those with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not made properly, such as retinoids or vitamin C serums, the specialist advises sticking to medical-grade brands.

She says these will likely have been through comprehensive tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor another professional.

When the brand states about the effectiveness of the product, it must have data to back it up, "but the seller does not always have to do the trials" and can instead use testing done by other brands, she says.

Check the Back of the Bottle

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

Components on the label of the bottle are ordered by amount. "The baddies that you need to look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up