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Ask a beauty editor: Have you ever found a dupe better than the real thing?

Words by Sarah Tarca and Sherine Youssef

“All my recommendations that could be close cousins to certain viral products usually fall into the makeup category.”

Sarah Tarca and Sherine Youssef are Australian beauty editors and the founders of Gloss Etc, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the best beauty reviews, news and tips. With 20 years of experience and a wealth of product knowledge, they’re here to answer beauty questions from Fashion Journal readers each fortnight.

Hi Sherine and Sarah, I wondered what your thoughts are on dupes. Is there really a difference between a $68  lip oil and a $12 version that gives me the same result? Is a dupe ever better than the real thing? – Tilly


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Sherine: Short answer: no. Sorry Tilly, I’d love to say yes and save us all a couple of bucks, but unless ‘better’ here is referring to the price, then no, not really. In my time testing and trialling, I’ve found plenty of dupes that come very close to the original (sometimes even as good as), but to honestly say they’re better? I don’t think I can. 

For me, it’s about how I value products and the role I want them to play in my routine. Things like cleansers, moisturisers, lipsticks and mascaras, I’ll always be happy to go for the dupe. But for face serums, foundations and fragrances, it’s usually the original because I’ve generally found it to have a better ingredients list, a nicer feel or a longer wear time. Personally, I think that’s worth the additional cost. 

Take moisturiser: all it will ever will be in my routine is something that seals in my serum. I don’t expect my moisturiser to perform miracles beyond keeping my face feeling soft and supple. So when it comes to these ‘active’ vitamin C moisturisers, even though I was very happy to use the Sunday Riley one all the way to the bottom, it was gifted to me and I don’t see myself spending my own money on it. If you’re happy to spend $108 on a moisturiser, do it! It’s truly gorgeous and my skin loved it. But I’ll be at Priceline buying the $30 version from No.7. 

I’m also really conflicted about dupes in general. These kinds of products first crept onto the beauty scene in the early 2000s as a way for consumers to restock their kits when items became discontinued or sold-out. Back then, the market was way, way less crowded; there wasn’t a new brand dropping every other week. 

These days, to stand out from the crowd, companies invest a lot of money researching, innovating and marketing their products, only to have another brand come along and basically ‘copy’ their offering and sell it far cheaper. It must be frustrating. And yet, why don’t I have a problem buying the Bottega knockoff in Zara? Make it make sense. The closest I can come to explaining my brain is that I think there’s layers to dupes: there are products that offer the same benefits at different prices points, like these grippy primers, brow gels, and shower oils, and then there are the products that are blatant copies of the originals.

Sherine and Sarah, founders of Gloss Etc.

Sarah: Like most people in the industry (and Sherine), I have complicated feelings about dupes. I’m all for democratising beauty and making it accessible — but at the expense of someone else’s innovation? That feels off to me.

My icks aside, the thing about dupes is they will often have a different ingredient composition, typically swapping in cheaper ingredients to keep the costs down. So it will likely not ever be better than the original, but it may give a similar effect. Canadian beauty influencer @taylorelizabethbeauty is a great follow on Instagram, she compares the product profile, similarities and differences and assesses how much of a ‘dupe’ a product is according to its ingredients – she even gives you a percentage. Brilliant.

Anyway, moral high ground aside, there’s a couple of things take into consideration when buying dupes: 1. Is it ‘inspired by’ or properly ripping off a product? If it’s the former, usually it’ll be doing its own thing, and have benefits the original doesn’t necessarily have. 2. How high-performing do I need it to be? Like Sherine, I won’t mess about with serums, but for makeup, I’ll definitely try a budget option. And so, all my recommendations that could be close cousins to certain viral products usually fall into the makeup category. Here’s some I like:

Rimmel Multitasker Better Than Filters, $30

This is similar to one of Charlotte Tilbury’s most-copied products: Hollywood Flawless Filter foundation. I really love the Rimmel version (I’ve raved about it here before) for its fat doe-foot applicator, and more subtle sheen which makes it wearable as a base when your skin is behaving. 

Bondi Sands Be Bronze Instant Bronzing and Hydrating Serum, $20

This is a take on Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi tinted serum, except it uses bronzing pigments instead of mica, which also means less shimmer – probably one of the reasons I like it so much. 

NYX Professional Fat Oil Lip Drip, $20

If you don’t feel like dropping $64 on a Dior lip oil, this is what I’d be grabbing instead. The feel and shine is similar, except the NYX one uses a more inexpensive mineral oil  instead of the (more expensive) seed oils that you’ll find in its luxe counterpart.

For more beauty dupes, try this.

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