Grocery Store Beauty Alternatives Can Save Consumers Hundreds. Yet, Do Economical Beauty Items Perform?

Rachael Parnell

Upon hearing a consumer found out a supermarket was offering a new beauty line that looked akin to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "extremely excited".

Rachael dashed to her nearest outlet to purchase the store-brand face cream for under £9 for 50ml - a tiny percentage of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml item.

Its sleek blue tube and gold top of each creams look remarkably comparable. And though she has not used the high-end cream, she states she's impressed by the alternative so far.

Rachael has been buying lookalike products from high street stores and supermarkets for some time, and she's not alone.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers say they've bought a beauty or cosmetic lookalike. This jumps to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a recently published survey.

Dupes are skincare products that imitate established brands and offer budget-friendly substitutes to premium products. They typically have comparable names and packaging, but in some cases the ingredients can vary considerably.

Victoria Woollaston

'Expensive Isn't Always Better'

Beauty experts say certain dupes to high-end labels are good quality and help make skincare less expensive.

"In my opinion higher-priced is always more effective," comments skin specialist one expert. "Not every affordable beauty label is bad - and not all high-end beauty item is the finest."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," adds a skincare commentator, who hosts a show featuring famous people.

Many of the products modeled on luxury labels "disappear so rapidly, it's just unbelievable," he observes.

Scott McGlynn

Skin specialist Ross Perry thinks dupes are acceptable to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and face washes.

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

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

"When you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be alright in opting for a lookalike or something which is very low cost because there's very little that can be problematic," she adds.

'Do Not Be Sold by the Box'

But the experts also recommend buyers do their research and state that costlier products are occasionally worthy of the additional cost.

Regarding premium skincare, you're not only funding the label and marketing - at times the elevated cost also stems from the components and their standard, the concentration of the key component, the research employed to produce the item, and trials into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo explains.

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

Occasionally, she believes they may contain filler ingredients that don't have as many positive effects for the complexion, or the materials might not be as well sourced.

"One major question mark is 'Why is it so inexpensive?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott says sometimes he's bought skincare items that look similar to a big-name brand but the product itself has "little similarity to the luxury product".

"Do not be sold by the outer appearance," he warned.

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For advanced products or those with components that can aggravate the skin if they're not formulated accurately, such as retinoids or vitamin C, the specialist advises selecting research-backed labels.

The expert explains these typically have been through expensive studies to evaluate how efficacious they are.

Beauty products need to be evaluated before they can be marketed in the UK, says expert another professional.

When the label states about the effectiveness of the product, it must have evidence to verify it, "but the seller does not necessarily have to do the testing" and can instead reference studies done by different companies, she says.

Check the Back of the Container

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

Ingredients on the label of the tube are arranged by amount. "Potential irritants that you want to be wary of… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up