High-Street Beauty Lookalikes Might Save Shoppers Hundreds. However, Do Affordable Beauty Products Really Work?
Rachael Parnell
After discovering one shopper found out a supermarket was selling a recent beauty line that looked comparable to items from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".
She rushed to her local store to buy the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 of the high-end 50ml cream.
The streamlined blue tube and gold lid of the two items look noticeably similar. Although Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the dupe so far.
She has been using lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's part of a trend.
More than a quarter of UK consumers say they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This increases to nearly half among millennials and Gen Z, based on a recent poll.
Dupes are beauty items that copy well-known companies and offer budget-friendly options to premium items. They frequently have similar names and packaging, but sometimes the ingredients can vary considerably.
Victoria Woollaston
'Costly Is Not Necessarily Superior'
Skincare specialists say many alternatives to high-end brands are good standard and help make skincare more affordable.
"It is not true that costlier is necessarily better," states skin specialist one expert. "Not every budget product line is inferior - and not every high-end skincare product is the top."
"Certain [dupes] are truly impressive," says a skincare commentator, who presents a podcast about famous people.
Numerous of the items modeled on luxury labels "run out so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.
Scott McGlynn
Medical expert Ross Perry believes dupes are acceptable to use for "fundamental products" like hydrators and cleansers.
"Alternatives will be effective," he comments. "They will handle the basics to a satisfactory standard."
A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can spend less when searching for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and a moisturizing ingredient.
"When you're buying a simple item then you're likely going to be fine in using a dupe or a product which is fairly low cost because there's very little that can cause issues," she explains.
'Don't Be Influenced by the Container'
However the experts also recommend consumers check details and note that costlier products are sometimes worthy of the additional cost.
Regarding luxury skincare, you're not just paying for the name and promotion - often the elevated cost also comes from the formula and their quality, the strength of the effective element, the technology employed to create the product, and tests into the products' efficacy, she notes.
Facialist Rhian Truman says it's worth considering how certain alternatives can be sold so inexpensively.
Occasionally, she believes they may have filler ingredients that lack as many benefits for the complexion, or the components might not be as carefully selected.
"One major uncertainty is 'Why is it so low-priced?'" she says.
Expert Scott notes on occasion he's bought skincare items that appear comparable to a big-name label but the item has "no connection to the luxury product".
"Do not be fooled by the container," he warned.
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Regarding potent products or ones with components that can inflame the skin if they're not made accurately, such as retinols or vitamin C serums, the specialist suggests sticking to research-backed brands.
She explains these typically have been through costly tests to evaluate how efficacious they are.
Skincare items need to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, explains consultant dermatologist another professional.
If the brand states about the efficacy of the item, it must have data to support it, "but the manufacturer does not always have to do the trials" and can alternatively reference studies completed by different firms, she says.
Read the Back of the Pack
Are there any ingredients that could suggest a product is poor?
Components on the back of the bottle are listed by quantity. "Potential irritants that you need to look out for… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzoyl peroxide" being {high up
