Makeup dupes - are they ever worth buying and are they legal?

So, you’ve set your heart on a brand-exclusive product but bagging it is likely to push your stretched finances over a cliff. You can’t afford it, but there’s something deep inside your soul nagging you to find a way around the depressing imposition of being skint. Enter makeup dupes! There’s something eerily similar for a fraction of the cost and the world and his wife, it appears, is raving about it online. What do you do?

When you’re being told ‘It’s exactly the same’ or ‘Better than the premium one’, the temptation is to make a leap of faith that can only go one of two ways. You are either going to end up with something remarkably close to the real thing or… be left with something completely unusable.

Good makeup dupes can save you money, but there's a difference between a dupe and counterfeit products.

When it comes to dupes, it often takes a forensic approach to determining if you’ve really saved a ton of cash or simply wasted your time. If you’ve ever swatched a budget bronzer only to discover the undertone is ‘off’, you’ll know the pitfalls. But it’s not just the shade that can catch you out. The true test of a makeup dupe is its texture and wear. How many low-cost powders truly deliver a flawless finish? If you end up with something that settles in all the wrong places on your face, it’s rubbish - no matter how cheap. 

Are makeup dupes legal?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of holy grail dupes, we need to first unpick the complicated question of: ‘Is it legal?’. It all hinges on Intellectual Property law, which considers things like trademark infringement and ‘trade dress’. The two main considerations are:

Is it a counterfeit? Counterfeit products are illegal, no ‘ifs’, no ‘buts’. They are designed to look exactly like the real thing - right down to branding. Of course, under the packaging, the actual product is unlikely to be the same, but you won’t know that until you’ve pressed your hard-earned cash into the hands of fraudsters.

Is it a dupe? Makeup dupes are produced by budget brands. While the formula or colour may appear similar to a much more expensive product, they do not pretend to be something other than a close match. Good dupes always carry clear brand information - so there is no confusion between the high-end item and the cheaper alternative. Dupes are actually legal, so long as they don’t veer into intellectual property infringement. 

Makeup formulas are generally not legally protected unless they are considered groundbreaking and benefit from a patent. There are many reasons why cosmetic companies choose not to patent their makeup compositions - one is the sheer expense of the long-winded process and the other is the need to publicly reveal what’s in the formula. That’s why high-end brands tend to prefer ‘secret recipes’. So long as those recipes aren’t stolen, budget brands can use a process of deconstruction to guess away and simply produce products that are ‘similar’.

Even dupes can fall foul of the law - if they infringe a brand's intellectual property.

A real danger zone for those producing dupes is trade dress infringement. If the overall appearance of a product, including packaging, is too similar to the ‘real thing’ it could be perceived as illegal. The law determining whether or not something is counterfeit falls on consumer perceptions. Do shoppers know they are buying a dupe or has a budget brand engineered a product to make them think they are getting the real deal? 

Some packaging designs, including artwork, are the subject of copyright, which is worth noting. 

Recently, a budget homeware store in the UK started selling lip care kits that look remarkably like £22 offerings from an independent brand that has a cult following. While, due to a ridiculously low price, they are obviously dupes, the packaging could be a problem. It has the potential to cause end-user confusion. Why? Because the £22 product uses an unusual, themed ‘trade dress’ that is a clear source identifier. Consumers associate that very specific and atypical packaging to a brand. So, is this dupe exploiting a successful brand’s reputation? In a court of law, it could be argued that it is.

The distinction between dupe and counterfeit is more often blurred online. Right now, you can buy a cream complexion palette for under £5 from China - and it looks exactly like one that will set you back £25 in the UK. We’re talking similarities in product shades, packaging and even some, but not all, of the branding. Do people know they are buying a dupe? Of course. But what’s attracting them to that product? The overall aesthetic as well as a low price. Another case of a budget brand exploiting the success of a growing indie business?

Now we’ve touched upon the legalities and determined the difference between legal dupes and illegal counterfeits, let’s talk about saving money.

Common holy grail makeup dupes

Where dupes can save you money is in specific product categories. They include mascara, setting spray and lipstick shades. If the naked eye can’t decipher a dupe from a premium product once it is applied, there’s money to be saved. Brands that excel in delivering quality products that deliver similar results to high-end brands for a fraction of the price include Revolution, Collection and W7. All three have good reputations in their own right, albeit in the budget sphere.

You can make big savings by switching to a decent dupe of a popular premium brand mascara.

If you are after a cult favourite lipstick shade that costs £40 but can source a very similar shade for a fiver, why not? After all, if you had the dough to buy the dearer one you would. The high-end brand isn’t losing out, because you can’t afford its products. I often think brand owners forget this when they whine about dupes. People buying cheap lookalikes were never going to be their customers anyway. Honestly, if I was a brand owner, I’d want those cash-strapped customers too. And I’d get them by introducing miniature versions of popular makeup products. Skincare brands do it.

There are, however, certain types of products that are hard to successfully dupe. That’s because these classics often steer clear of cheap ingredients to deliver superior results. Powdered products are the ones to watch here. Before being tempted to buy makeup dupes, look at the ingredients labels. You will often discover a high concentration of pure talc or cornstarch in cheap powders. As well as not meeting your performance expectations, you will also be minus the designer edge to the packaging.

I’ll never forget tuning into a YouTube demo for an eyeshadow palette dupe. I was confronted by an overly-enthusiastic influencer who couldn’t find a single fault with a £6 offering. To say her description of the product was gushing would be an understatement. Then it came to the ‘try on’. She was attempting to replicate a look promoted for a premium palette. It went instantly wrong when her eyeshadow brush failed to pick up any pigment at all. ‘Oh,’ she gasped, initially faking an error on her part. As the video went on, it was clear the dupe was absolutely rubbish. I’m sure that reel saved a lot of people money.

I've also seen deliberate examples of 'reverse influencing'. This is when a cheap product that is similar to a premium product is being reviewed online. I've heard phrases like 'How are they getting away with it?' and 'It looks exactly the same as...'. Then they will trash the budget product to promote the more expensive one. Clever.

There's no room for brand snobbery if you're broke!

When snobbery is outsmarted by savvy spending

Many makeup dupes are worth buying, as I’ve said, particularly the mascaras and lipsticks. And these purchases shouldn’t be seen as a type of forfeiture. It’s smart spending. How many people do you know who put brand loyalty above what they can comfortably afford? Too many people buy premium products out of a misplaced sense of snobbery - even if they can’t really afford it. It’s sheer madness. 

At the end of the day, when we buy makeup - whether premium or a dupe - we’re looking for performance. It’s not about prestige. Is your boss or someone you want to impress really going to know that the nude lipstick you wear like a personal trademark costs £40? No! So, if you can’t afford it, why buy it?

Bottom line? Being skint doesn’t mean you have to look skint. Yes, you can look a million dollars wearing makeup dupes. The real challenge is finding the good ones. Happy hunting!