By Abby Seaman
In recent years, make-up dupes have become a phenomenon on social media, gaining popularity as a way to buy cheaper versions of trending make-up.
On TikTok, you’ll find videos of make-up artists and enthusiasts endorsing their favourite dupes and conducting “wear tests”, making comparisons against the originals. Numerous Reddit communities, one with more than 30,000 members, are dedicated to asking and sourcing the best dupes of their luxury brand favourites.
Sitting on a bathroom shelf, the packaging of a make-up dupe may look almost identical to the original product, but how does the quality compare? We asked the experts.
Make-up dupes have recently become increasingly popular among people on social media. Credit: Getty Images
What is a make-up dupe?
A make-up dupe, or duplicate, is a product that mimics the formula and design of a high-end brand but is sold at a cheaper price, often online or at chain retailers such as Priceline or Chemist Warehouse.
Make-up dupes have always been prominent in the cosmetic industry but have been gaining popularity recently with a younger online audience – more than 30,000 TikTok videos have been shared with the hashtag #makeupdupes – likely due to cost-of-living pressures, serving as an affordable option for tweens and teenagers.
While dupes don’t claim to be an exact copy of the higher-end brand, they are often recognisably similar in branding and formula.
According to pharmaceutical scientist and author of Your Best Skin Hannah Collingwood English, reproducing a formula can be easy, as it is possible for a formulation chemist to “reverse engineer” a product for you.
Regarding the legality of copying a formula, Collingwood English says it is unlikely a company would patent a product specifically, despite companies sometimes patenting technologies.
“We sometimes see patents for unique ingredient technology ... You might see the same patented ingredient technology across multiple products and brands that are all owned by the same conglomerate,” she says.
Are make-up dupes always lower quality?
Make-up dupes are mostly fine for the skin when bought from a reputable retailer, but Collingwood English warns against using make-up counterfeits or fakes. These products claim to be the real thing – not a dupe – and are often sold on online marketplaces or social media. They are illegal to buy, sell or manufacture in Australia.
“Fakes aren’t held to regulatory standards, so they could have literally anything in them,” Collingwood English says.
However, when it comes to dupes, some well-reviewed brands will appear undetectable from the real deal when on the skin.
Cosmetics products must provide ingredient information to consumers with the ingredients listed in descending order of amount used. Most dupes will use the same or similar ingredients and can be cross-referenced between the two products.
“The same ingredient can vary wildly in terms of quality, so even if the lists were identical, one product could be superior to another,” says Collingwood English, who adds that ingredients alone don’t paint a whole picture; the formula composition is also important.
When comparing the often sold-out Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Anti-Pollution Sunshine Drops ($60) against the Super Glow Bronzing drops ($32) from MCoBeauty, a popular Australian brand known for its dupes, Collingwood English says: “The dupe is fine, but the ingredients aren’t as cutting-edge.”
“The dupe is fine,” says pharmaceutical scientist Hannah Collingwood English.Credit:
Both make-up products are bronze-tinted serums with skincare benefits, such as hydration and skin barrier support. Collingwood English says the Drunk Elephant product contains more skincare ingredients to improve your skin while you wear the product.
“One example is chronocyclin (glutamylamidoethyl imidazole), which is intended to help skin create vitamin D. That’s why the product was named D-Bronzi,” Collingwood English says.
Can make-up dupes harm our skin?
Dermatologist Dr Cara McDonald says make-up dupes aren’t necessarily bad for our skin, but cheaper products could lack the “extra” ingredients that help create a more luxurious product.
“In some cases, cheaper products may use irritating ingredients … but make-up is generally pretty safe and benign on the skin.”
McDonald says because make-up is designed to sit on top of the skin, it’s less likely to harm the skin. Skincare that is used underneath the make-up, such as serums and moisturisers, has a bigger impact on skin health.
Collingwood English agrees that make-up dupes are generally fine, but skincare dupes are different due to the intention of the product.
“Now we’re talking about something intended to make changes to your skin. Think about where you want your skin to be and whether or not there’s evidence that a particular product and its ingredients can get you there.”
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