High-Street Skincare Dupes Might Save Shoppers a Bundle. But Do Budget Beauty Products Perform?

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out a discounter was selling a recent skincare range that seemed similar to offerings from high-end label Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her closest shop to buy the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The smooth blue container and gold cap of both products look remarkably comparable. While she has never tried the premium cream, she claims she's pleased by the product so far.

Rachael has been using lookalike products from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for years, and she's in good company.

More than a quarter of UK consumers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to 44 percent among younger adults, as per a recently published study.

Alternatives are beauty items that copy bigger name companies and offer affordable substitutes to luxury products. These products typically have comparable names and packaging, but sometimes the ingredients can change significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Superior'

Skincare professionals say many dupes to high-end brands are good quality and help make skincare cheaper.

"I don't think higher-priced is invariably better," says dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not every budget beauty label is inferior - and not all luxury beauty item is the top."

"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," says a podcast host, who runs a podcast with celebrities.

Numerous of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so quickly, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

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

"These products will be effective," he says. "These items will do the fundamentals to a reasonable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, suggests you can spend less when searching for simple-formula items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"When you're purchasing 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 minimal that can cause issues," she explains.

'Don't Be Sold by the Box'

But the professionals also suggest consumers do their research and note that more expensive products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding premium beauty products, you're not just funding the brand and promotion - at times the higher price also is due to the components and their standard, the strength of the key component, the technology employed to develop the item, and studies into the item's performance, she explains.

Facialist another professional says it's valuable thinking about how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they could have bulking agents that lack as numerous advantages for the complexion, or the components might not be as high-quality.

"The major doubt is 'How is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott admits sometimes he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a well-known label but the item has "little similarity to the original".

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

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Regarding advanced items or ones with ingredients that can inflame the skin if they're not created accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, she suggests using more specialised labels.

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

Beauty products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says skin doctor Emma Wedgeworth.

If the label advertises about the effectiveness of the item, it requires data to verify it, "but the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively reference testing done by different companies, she says.

Read the Label of the Bottle

Are there any ingredients that could suggest a item is low-quality?

Components on the back of the tube are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you should look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up