Luxury Skincare Costs Too Much. Brandefy Has A Fix For That: Dupes
The beauty industry's glow is starting to fade, according to McKinsey and The Beauty of Fashion's latest 'State of Beauty' report. 'Beauty's era of effortless growth is giving way to a more complex landscape,' it observes, highlighting that while the global beauty market grew 7% annually from 2022 to 2024, reaching $441 billion, growth is projected to slow to between 3% and 5% per year through 2030.
Consumers' increased focus on getting the most value for their money is the number one theme shaping the future of the beauty industry, according to 56% of the 100 senior beauty industry executives surveyed. And 54% see an uncertain consumer appetite or restricted spending as the industry's greatest risk.
These two challenges are reflected in the dynamic growth in dupes – beauty products formulated to deliver results comparable to high-end brands but at a fraction of the cost. 'Many customers are not price-sensitive as much as they are value-sensitive — though differentiating on value is increasingly difficult in an era of dupes,' the report explains, offering no easy answers for how established industry players can counter dupes' disruptive force.
Brandefy's Meg Pryde, a pioneer helping drive dupe culture, is positioned in the catbird seat as the beauty industry recalibrates.
Pryde founded Brandefy in 2018 after working for a multi-billion private label manufacturer in the healthcare industry. 'I was appalled that you had different containers, one priced at $80 and another for $10, and they had similar or exactly the same stuff inside. I knew there was a way to use community and technology to help people decide if it was worth it to pay up or buy the generic,' she shared with me.
Brandefy founder and CEO Meg Pryde
Courtesy of Brandefy
Recognizing that the beauty industry was one of the least transparent about product ingredients and performance just as consumers were doing more research to make informed purchase decisions, Pryde became the industry's disrupter-in-chief with the Brandefy app support its user community to share their dupe favorites.
The app allows community members to compare brand-name products against the available dupes, rate them by performance, packaging and ingredients. It then assigns the dupes a 'similarity score.' The app contains listings for over a thousand brands and more than 10,000 product reviews.
The app has been downloaded over half-a-million times, Pryde tells me. 'Our primary reason for being is to save people time and money figuring out what's the best product for them.'
Pryde initially bootstrapped her Brandefy venture by cashing out her retirement account while earning an M.B.A. at the University of Virginia. After running the app for a few years, she realized that skincare was the biggest source of confusion for the community – especially as a virtual arms race was evolving at the clinical, higher-end of the market.
A $1.7 million investment round fueled a research-and-development initiative to create a line of Brandefy top-quality skincare dupes for the most requested products. Chemist Judi Steward, who worked for 20 years in R&D with Estée Lauder, as well as with L'Oréal and Chanel, came on board to help put the science into Brandefy's formulas. And Pryde attracted dermatologist partners to ensure the highest quality, safety and performance.
Currently, Brandefy offers 11 skincare products, including cleansers, serums, moisturizers and tinted sunscreen. Brandefy guarantees as good or better results at significant savings. 'We call it a national brand 'better,'' she said, adding that the company selects North American manufacturing partners that have special expertise in the specific type of product.
For example, Brandefy's best-selling $49 Clinical Vit C + E + Ferulic Defend Serum is 'inspired by' SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic that retails for $182. And its No-Needles Renew Serum with niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and peptide complex sells for $35 as compared to $69 for DRMTLGY Needle-less Serum that inspired it.
'I'm so proud of our product line. I've gotten so many incredible compliments, but the biggest is our recorder rate. It's fantastic,' she shared.
Based upon community feedback, Brandefy is expanding into the fragrance category with three signature scents including Number One, inspired by Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Baccarat Rouge 540, that sells for $49 versus $210; Number 2, inspired by Black Opium, for $29 instead of $130; and Number 3, inspired by Le Labo Another 13, for $59 rather than $235. And all three Brandefy Scent Labs offerings come in larger sizes than their comparables.
Business of Fashion editor Daniela Morosini acknowledges that 'the beauty space is being overtaken by dupe brands,' and the McKinsey report reinforces it. Since 2023, consumer spending on skincare at the high-end cut way back and spending at the lower-end rose.
The share of 1,000+ U.S. consumers surveyed who spent $76 or more on skincare in the past six months dropped from 50% in 2023 to 43% in 2025, while spending at the $35 and under price range increased the most, up from 26% to 37%. Even spending in the moderate $36 to $75 range dropped, from 24% to 20%.
Haircare, color cosmetics and to a lesser extent fragrance have seen a similar shift to lower spending. Haircare spending in the $35 and under price range went from 29% in 2023 to 48% in 2025. Color spending went from 26% to 34% and fragrance from 22% to 29%.
Overall, interest in dupes is on the rise, with 28% of global consumers saying they have consciously bought dupes and 53% being open to buying them.
McKinsey partner Sara Hudson concludes, 'Amplified by inflation and perceptions of products being overpriced, 'dupes' (products that either directly or indirectly imitate premium items at a lower price) will continue to appeal to consumers. 'Dupes' are likely here to stay.'
Pryde and her Brandefy community are all in. 'We save our community millions of dollars every year through our app and products.'
But she stresses that saving money isn't the only goal. She doesn't want customers to be duped by the high-priced brands.
'Marketers would regularly talk about adding a whisper of an ingredient, at an irrelevantly low level, just to make a marketing claim, like 'includes snow mushrooms.' We deserve better and Brandefy and our community helps them find better,' she concluded.
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