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Rachael Parnell

When Rachael Parnell learned a supermarket was offering a recent skincare range that seemed akin to offerings from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper hurried to her nearest shop to buy the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the luxury brand 50ml cream.

The streamlined blue tube and gold cap of both products look noticeably comparable. Although Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's pleased by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from popular shops and grocery stores for some time, and she's not alone.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers say they've tried a beauty or cosmetic alternative. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, based on a February survey.

Alternatives are skincare products that mimic established labels and offer affordable alternatives to premium products. They typically have comparable branding and containers, but occasionally the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare professionals say certain alternatives to premium brands are decent standard and help make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think more expensive is necessarily superior," states skin specialist one expert. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not every high-end beauty item is the top."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a program featuring famous people.

Many of the products based on luxury labels "run out so fast, it's just crazy," he says.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor another professional thinks alternatives are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like moisturisers and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he explains. "They will perform the basics to a acceptable degree."

Ketaki Bhate, thinks you can save money when you're looking for single-ingredient items like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be okay in opting for a budget alternative or a product which is quite low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Swayed by the Box'

However the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and note that more expensive products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just covering the name and promotion - at times the higher cost also stems from the components and their grade, the strength of the active ingredient, the research utilized to create the item, and trials into the products' performance, Dr Belmo says.

Skin therapist another professional argues it's worth questioning how some alternatives can be priced so cheaply.

Sometimes, she says they could contain filler ingredients that don't have as numerous positive effects for the complexion, or the ingredients might not be as carefully selected.

"The big doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Commentator Scott admits in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a established label but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Don't be fooled by the container," he cautioned.

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For advanced products or those with components that can inflame the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinoids or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to more specialised labels.

The expert states these typically have been through comprehensive studies to assess how successful they are.

Skincare items need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand states about the efficacy of the product, it must have evidence to back it up, "however the brand does not necessarily have to conduct the testing" and can instead reference testing completed by other firms, she says.

Check the Label of the Pack

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

Components on the list of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "Potential irritants that you want to avoid… is your mineral oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up