Supermarket Beauty Lookalikes Can Save Shoppers a Fortune. However, Do Affordable Beauty Products Perform?

Rachael Parnell

After discovering Rachael Parnell found out a supermarket was launching a recent product collection that appeared akin to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

Rachael rushed to her local outlet to purchase the store-brand face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the luxury brand 50ml product.

Its sleek blue container and gold lid of both items look remarkably alike. And though she has not used the high-end cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far.

Rachael has been using beauty alternatives from mainstream retailers and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

More than a 25% of UK shoppers say they've tried a skincare or makeup dupe. This jumps to 44% among younger adults, based on a recent study.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate established companies and present budget-friendly alternatives to luxury items. These products frequently have similar names and packaging, but in some cases the components can differ significantly.

Victoria Woollaston

'High-Priced Is Not Always Better'

Skincare professionals say certain alternatives to luxury labels are good standard and help make beauty routines cheaper.

"It is not true that more expensive is necessarily superior," comments skin specialist a doctor. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is poor - and not all premium skincare product is the top."

"A number of [dupes] are really excellent," adds Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast about celebrities.

A lot of of the items based on high-end labels "sell out so rapidly, it's just crazy," he remarks.

Scott McGlynn

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry believes dupes are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and face washes.

"Alternatives will serve a purpose," he says. "These items will handle the basics to a acceptable standard."

Another skin doctor, suggests you can cut costs when seeking single-ingredient products like HA, niacinamide and squalane.

"When you're purchasing a single-ingredient product then you're likely going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or a product which is fairly affordable because there's very little that can go wrong," she explains.

'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'

Yet the professionals also suggest consumers investigate and state that higher-priced products are at times worthy of the additional cost.

With luxury beauty products, you're not just funding the label and promotion - at times the higher cost also stems from the formula and their standard, the strength of the effective element, the research used to produce the product, and tests into the item's efficacy, the expert notes.

Beauty expert Rhian Truman says it's important considering how some alternatives can be priced so inexpensively.

In some cases, she believes they may contain filler ingredients that lack as numerous advantages for the skin, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"The big question mark is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.

Podcast host McGlynn notes in some cases he's bought beauty products that appear comparable to a big-name brand but the item has "no connection to the premium version".

"Do not be sold by the container," he warned.

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Regarding advanced products or those with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises sticking to research-backed labels.

She says these typically have been subjected to costly studies to determine how efficacious they are.

Beauty items need to be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, explains expert another professional.

When the brand makes claims about the performance of the item, it requires data to back it up, "but the brand doesn't necessarily have to perform the trials" and can alternatively reference evidence conducted by other companies, she adds.

Examine the Back of the Container

Is there any ingredients that could signal a item is poor?

Ingredients on the back of the tube are ordered by amount. "The baddies that you want to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your SLS, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up