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Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing one shopper found out a discounter was offering a fresh beauty line that looked comparable to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "incredibly excited".

She rushed to her nearest outlet to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml product.

Its smooth blue tube and gold cap of the two items look strikingly comparable. And though Rachael has not used the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.

She has been buying lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.

Over a 25% of UK consumers report they've bought a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a recently published poll.

Lookalikes are beauty items that imitate established companies and present affordable alternatives to high-end items. They often have comparable branding and containers, but sometimes the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Isn't Always Better'

Beauty experts say some substitutes to high-end brands are good standard and help make skincare cheaper.

"It is not true that costlier is always better," states skin specialist a doctor. "Not all affordable skincare brand is poor - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are truly amazing," adds a podcast host, who hosts a podcast featuring celebrities.

A lot of of the items inspired by luxury brands "sell out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional believes dupes are acceptable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers.

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

Another skin doctor, suggests you can spend less when searching for simple-formula products like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a lookalike or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

However the experts also suggest buyers do their research and say that higher-priced products are occasionally worthy of the premium price.

With luxury beauty products, you're not only paying for the name and promotion - sometimes the higher price tag also stems from the formula and their quality, the potency of the effective element, the science used to develop the product, and trials into the products' efficacy, Dr Belmo says.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman argues it's worth considering how certain alternatives can be sold so cheaply.

Occasionally, she states they might include less effective components that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the materials might not be as high-quality.

"One key question mark is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott admits in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a big-name label but the item has "no connection to the premium version".

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

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Regarding potent items or ones with components that can irritate the complexion if they're not created accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, she advises selecting research-backed companies.

The expert says these will likely have been through costly tests to assess how efficacious they are.

Skincare items must be tested before they can be available in the UK, says expert another professional.

When the label advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it needs evidence to support it, "however the seller doesn't always have to conduct the testing" and can instead reference studies conducted by different brands, she clarifies.

Check the Back of the Container

Are there any components that could signal a item is inferior?

Ingredients on the list of the tube are arranged by amount. "The baddies that you want to be wary of… is your mineral oil, your SLS, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up