High-Street Skincare Alternatives Might Save Consumers a Fortune. Yet, Do Budget Beauty Products Actually Work?

Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell learned a discounter was offering a new skincare range that seemed akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her local store to pick up the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 cost of the Augustinus Bader 50ml item.

The sleek blue tube and gold cap of the two creams look strikingly similar. While she has not used the premium cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been purchasing beauty alternatives from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's part of a trend.

Over a fourth of UK shoppers say they've purchased a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This rises to 44% among 18-34 year olds, as per a February poll.

Alternatives are beauty items that imitate established labels and present affordable alternatives to premium items. They often have comparable names and packaging, but in some cases the ingredients can differ substantially.

Victoria Woollaston

'Costly Is Not Necessarily Better'

Beauty experts contend certain substitutes to high-end labels are reasonable standard and aid make skincare more affordable.

"It is not true that more expensive is invariably superior," comments consultant dermatologist a doctor. "Not all budget skincare brand is inferior - and not every luxury beauty item is the finest."

"Certain [dupes] are really impressive," says a skincare commentator, who hosts a program about famous people.

A lot of of the products inspired by luxury labels "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry believes dupes are fine to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.

"Dupes will be effective," he says. "These items will perform the fundamentals to a acceptable standard."

Ketaki Bhate, advises you can save money when searching for single-ingredient items like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.

"If you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be okay in using a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she adds.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Box'

However the experts also recommend shoppers check details and state that more expensive products are at times worth the extra money.

With high-end beauty products, you're not only funding the label and marketing - at times the elevated cost also stems from the ingredients and their quality, the potency of the key component, the science utilized to produce the item, and trials into the item's performance, the expert notes.

Skin therapist Rhian Truman suggests it's worth thinking about how certain dupes can be sold so inexpensively.

In some cases, she says they may include bulking agents that do not provide as many benefits for the complexion, or the materials might not be as carefully selected.

"One major doubt is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she remarks.

Podcast host McGlynn admits in some cases he's purchased skincare items that look comparable to a well-known brand but the actual formula has "little similarity to the premium version".

"Don't be convinced by the outer appearance," he added.

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Regarding more complicated items or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated properly, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, Dr Bhate recommends selecting more specialised companies.

She states these probably have been subjected to costly trials to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Skincare products need to be assessed before they can be marketed in the UK, explains expert another professional.

When the company advertises about the effectiveness of the product, it requires evidence to back it up, "however the manufacturer does not always have to do the testing" and can alternatively use testing conducted by different companies, she says.

Examine the Back of the Pack

Are there any components that could suggest a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the list of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you should be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being {high up