High-Street Skincare Alternatives Might Save Shoppers Hundreds. However, Do Budget Skincare Products Perform?

Rachael Parnell

After discovering one shopper found out a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that seemed akin to items from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

The shopper dashed to her nearest store to purchase the supermarket face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the Augustinus Bader 50ml cream.

Its smooth blue packaging and gold cap of the two products look strikingly comparable. Although she has not tested the premium cream, she states she's impressed by the product so far.

Rachael has been buying beauty alternatives from popular shops and supermarkets for a long time, and she's not alone.

Over a 25% of UK consumers state they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic dupe. This increases to 44 percent among younger adults, based on a recently published survey.

Lookalikes are skincare products that copy established brands and provide budget-friendly alternatives to premium items. These products typically have similar branding and containers, but occasionally the formulas can change substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Necessarily Better'

Skincare experts say some dupes to high-end labels are good standard and assist make beauty routines less expensive.

"I don't think more expensive is invariably superior," says skin specialist Sharon Belmo. "Not every affordable product line is bad - and not every high-end skincare product is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are truly impressive," says a skincare commentator, who runs a show with public figures.

Numerous of the items inspired by high-end labels "disappear so fast, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks dupes are fine to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he comments. "These items will handle the basics to a reasonable standard."

Another skin doctor, advises you can spend less when you're looking for single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in opting for a dupe or a product which is fairly inexpensive because there's minimal that can cause issues," she explains.

'Do Not Be Influenced by the Container'

However the professionals also suggest shoppers do their research and say that higher-priced products are sometimes worth the premium price.

With high-end beauty products, you're not just funding the label and advertising - often the higher cost also comes from the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the research employed to create the product, and tests into the products' performance, she explains.

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

In some cases, she believes they could have less effective components that don't have as numerous positive effects for the complexion, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"One major question mark is 'Why is it so cheap?'" she asks.

Expert McGlynn admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a well-known brand but the actual formula has "little similarity to the original".

"Do not be sold by the outer appearance," he cautioned.

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Regarding advanced items or those with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate advises using research-backed labels.

She explains these typically have been subjected to comprehensive tests to evaluate how effective they are.

Beauty items must be assessed before they can be sold in the UK, notes skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

When the company advertises about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to support it, "but the brand does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can instead cite evidence conducted by different brands, she adds.

Read the Ingredients List of the Pack

Is there any components that could suggest a product is inferior?

Components on the label of the tube are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, parfum, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up