Transcending Dupe Culture: The Unique Challenges & Opportunities for Luxury Brands in the Beauty Boom

By Mei Grandell

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Bubble or not, beauty’s boom is a fact. As consumers prioritize self-care, longevity and results through a social lens, the market has seen an explosion in demand as well as new brands, with 32% of the US beauty dollar share now held by indie players1.

In skincare in particular, the market disruption brought on by the likes of Deciem’s The Ordinary and subsequently The Inkey List, catapulted technical product knowledge into the mainstream, turning ingredient-aware and function-driven shopping into the norm, particularly in skincare - and making much of the mystery, allure and proprietary terms of more traditional luxury beauty marketing obsolete over night.

As challengers ushered in a new level of ingredient transparency and consumer education, innovation was democratised and function-led beauty shopping grew. With a wealth of formulas that can seem functionally similar, this has led to a degree of commoditisation. When the customer knows what powerful active, scent note or delivery mechanism they want in a formula, and that it appears to feature at the same concentration in a $150 serum as a $15 alternative, the premium price seems harder to justify.

The Challenge of Dupes

Enter dupe culture. Nearly 74% of U.S. beauty consumers now believe that affordable products can perform as well as their luxury counterparts2, and over one-third of consumers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, actively seek out dupes. Searches for “skincare dupes” have increased by 123% in recent years3. Marketed - or touted by the beauty consumer community itself - as budget-friendly alternatives to high-end products, dupes have become a cultural phenomenon, largely through platforms like TikTok driving millions of views for ‘dupes’ of products such as Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk lipstick or the Dior Addict Lip Glow.

For many luxury brands, this inevitably eats away at the power of traditional price justifiers of exclusivity, quality and aspiration. In categories like fashion, dupes are largely visual, and mean a knowing tradeoff between quality and aesthetics (see: the Wirkin). Beauty dupes can bring another dimension: results and/or proven ingredients.

And while dupes historically carry stigma - from copycat fashion to fragrances - skincare and makeup dupes in particular are not only growing accepted, but habitual: around one-third of makeup users purchase dupes, rising to nearly 50% among Millennials and Gen Z4.


Dupe-proofing luxury beauty

With rising dupe culture, luxury beauty brands face unique challenges - but they are also uniquely positioned to thrive.

Indie (and dupe) brands thrive on agility, authenticity, and an ability to resonate with niche audiences. These often smaller players leverage experimental marketing and highly connected, community led social strategies to create cult-like followings. Particularly for older luxury brands, competing in this environment requires balancing the allure of heritage with modernity and relevance - and remembering their original innovator position in the market as innovators. The boom in beauty is not just a challenge for luxury (established or new); it is a reminder of their primary role - an invitation to lead, no matter their age or size.

Lean into Heritage and Authority


Brand qualities that are inherently impossible to replicate - history, heritage and expertise that follows, or simply a genuine commitment to expertise and uncompromising quality - should remain at the core of luxury beauty brands’ playbook, and in a modern way. Key to this is remembering the founding missions of histories, and the often pioneering innovation implicit in them and the luxury segment as a whole. In many cases, luxury brands have borne the brunt of collective learning and market testing. For them, this wealth of tried and tested knowledge is often core to their credibility.

Likewise, heritage carries nostalgia and style authority - and in luxury, a gateway to a brand’s universe, particularly in the case of brands with a name also in other categories such as fashion.

Revisit innovative roots in relevant ways

Luxury beauty has historically led the industry in innovation, and its often deep investment into R&D is part of its credibility. Premium and luxury skincare brands in particular invest comparatively more in cutting-edge technologies and clinical trials to deliver products with proven results and novel proprietary ingredients and complexes.

Science never did leave the recipe for success in skincare - but its pace is now faster, and all-encompassing. When educated skincare shoppers are able to out-geek the average advisor on the shopfloor, the benchmark for innovation is higher than ever. Nowhere is this more true than luxury beauty.

Leaning into this now, also means leaning into transparency: letting the customer into the science and inspirations, perhaps sharing the very tried and tested learnings that have perfected hero products over the years, and the thoroughness of luxury and premium beauty formulation, whether by indie or big players. Including sometimes mammoth R&D investment (see exciting biotech startup Deinde by Debut at L’Oreal): emphasising quality, safety, ethics and long term results as logical factors behind a higher price.

What luxury needs to remember is that innovation has to feel relevant. While brands shouldn’t be guided only by consumer wants if they truly wish to innovate, it is important to understand the customer. Besides a PR and social thirst for newness, NPD for NPD’s sake will not win in the longer term, unless it is solving real customer problems or unlocking better results.

Or, as is a hallmark of luxury beauty including colour and fragrance: creating irresistible aspiration.

Create the irresistible

Unparalleled customer experiences remain a core part of luxury beauty. Packaging alone as a veil of glamour is no longer enough, but experience matters when differentiating from dupes and mass market players; from sensory product application, pigment payoff and unwrapping experiences to visual universes, immersive events, elevated retail design and truly personalised consultations, the tactile and emotional connection that luxury fosters is still a powerful differentiator. Whatever style category they occupy, the challenge is of course to deliver this sustainably and ethically - as well as in a way that fosters connection and social media currency.

Likewise, campaigns and storytelling remain just as key. Renowned makeup artist Beau Nelson recently highlighted the diminishing art of magic and stories in colour cosmetics marketing - how brands can conjure up the mood of the zeitgeist or personality through powerful enough storytelling the way they used to in decades gone. Contrary to the role of dupes, beauty consumption is not always functional or rational - it is also a treat and a gift. Investing in creative talent, luxury has a history of standout campaign moments and the brand power to appeal through emotion. Luxury’s ability to sell a dream and inspire is a hallmark of the category - and something to continue to lean into even in the social-first era.

Own gift-giving


An area of beauty where luxury and premium brands have an upper hand is gift giving. While dupe culture permeates day to day consumption, affordability is not synonymous with giftability. The key is to maintain aspirational appeal, user experiences, and packaging that makes a statement, whichever stylistic interpretation of modern luxury it may be - while not only embracing, but leading in sustainability.

Connect deeply

While social media is the home of dupe culture and success, it continues to present an opportunity for more meaningful community dialogue in luxury: it is possible to balance or indeed contrast truly aspirational, elevated visual expression with transparent, community driven communication, whether that’s in truly insightful written word, letting the consumer in behind the scenes to show just how advanced innovation is (see La Mer’s recent influencer trips), or high wattage campaigns where virality is based on genuine understanding of what excites the community.

Embrace discovery


In the face of dupes, the trial size continues to be useful for lowering barriers to purchase. By ensuring that even miniatures come with a touch of aspiration - without compromising the planet - luxury brands can grasp a slice of the lower priced sphere and ultimately convince repeat custom through superior formulation.

Lead sustainability


That today’s consumer demands transparency and eco-consciousness is not news. With its close two-way connection to online culture and conscious generations of consumers, beauty is under an especially close lens of scrutiny when it comes to sustainability, partly because of its real reliance on sophisticated packaging. As in product formulation, luxury brands are uniquely equipped - and expected - to advance R&D in this space, and to cement their leadership as innovators through a future proof lens.

Beauty competition may have intensified with the rise of dupes, but for luxury brands, the opportunities remain abundant - just wrapped in a new playbook. The key is to step up to the challenge, revisit founding values and missions, and turn heritage into credibility by staying at the forefront of product innovation, and marketing it in a transparent way that is inclusive and deeply connected with the community to justify the premium. All the while maintaining the highest creative standards to cultivate emotional appeal. And if it steps up to the opportunity to truly drive innovation, without smoke and mirrors (yet still in its own language and disciplined brand codes), and to meaningfully raise the bar of R&D in a world where it increasingly complements cosmetic procedures, luxury beauty can and will survive.

1) Nielsen, 2023: The Rise of Indie Beauty, US
2) Mintel via Beauty Packaging .com, 2023
3) Blanka Brand partly quoting Glossy, 2023
4) CGI Magazine quoting Nielsen and CEW, 2024: The Symbiotic World of Beauty Dupes: Fragrance, Makeup & Beyond

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