High-Street Skincare Alternatives Could Save Shoppers a Fortune. But Do Budget Beauty Products Perform?

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing Rachael Parnell learned a discounter was selling a recent beauty line that looked akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

The shopper dashed to her local outlet to buy the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 cost of the high-end 50ml product.

The smooth blue tube and gold lid of both products look noticeably similar. While she has never tried the premium cream, she says she's satisfied by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for a long time, and she's in good company.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers say they've bought a skincare or makeup alternative. This rises to nearly half among younger adults, based on a recently published poll.

Dupes are beauty items that copy well-known labels and present affordable alternatives to luxury items. These products frequently have similar names and packaging, but occasionally the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Isn't Always Superior'

Skincare specialists argue some alternatives to luxury labels are decent quality and aid make skincare more affordable.

"In my opinion higher-priced is always better," comments dermatology expert Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not every premium skincare product is the best."

"Certain [dupes] are really amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who presents a show featuring public figures.

Many of the items inspired by high-end brands "disappear so quickly, it's just insane," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist another professional argues dupes are suitable to use for "basic skincare" like hydrators and face washes.

"These products will be effective," he comments. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a reasonable degree."

A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can cut costs when you're looking for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, Vitamin B3 and squalane.

"When you're buying a simple item then you're probably going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is very inexpensive because there's not much that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the professionals also recommend buyers do their research and say that costlier products are occasionally worthy of the premium price.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not only covering the name and advertising - often the increased price tag also comes from the formula and their standard, the potency of the effective element, the technology utilized to produce the item, and studies into the products' performance, the expert says.

Facialist another professional suggests it's worth thinking about how some dupes can be priced so at a low cost.

In some cases, she believes they might contain bulking agents that do not provide as many positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as well sourced.

"The key uncertainty is 'How is it so low-priced?'" she asks.

Expert McGlynn says on occasion he's bought beauty products that appear similar to a big-name brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the luxury product".

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

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For potent items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C, the specialist recommends selecting more specialised labels.

She says these probably have been subjected to expensive tests to assess how effective they are.

Beauty items are required to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, notes expert Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand makes claims about the performance of the product, it requires evidence to support it, "but the brand doesn't necessarily have to conduct the trials" and can alternatively cite testing completed by other brands, she clarifies.

Read the Ingredients List of the Container

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

Components on the label of the container are arranged by amount. "The baddies that you need to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up