Dollar stores are the new hot spot for beauty dupes

• Shoppers are posting on TikTok about dupes of well-known cosmetics at dollar stores.
• Both Dollar General and Dollar Tree sell dupes of products from viral brand Glow Recipe, for example.
• The two dollar store chains see beauty products as an area where they can grow sales.

Shoppers are turning to dollar stores for a growing array of name-brand and dupe beauty products.

Recent posts to TikTok and Business Insider's visits to stores run by Dollar General and Dollar Tree show everything from the stores' own-brand face masks to big brands like Garnier and Maybelline.

One TikTok post from user @paigeconstantino highlighted watermelon-scented serum, toner, and moisturizer at a Dollar Tree store. The products, sold under the "B-Pure" name, appear similar to some offered by Korean beauty brand Glow Recipe.

"They all come in these nice glass bottles," the shopper says in the video. "They feel like really nice quality."

User @kontourandkale posted in September about blush and a brow pencil from the brand ProFusion that she bought at Dollar General.

Strokes from the brow pen didn't wear off, even after the poster swabbed them with alcohol. "I'm really excited about this brow pen," she said in the video.

Another video, posted on Dec. 31 by @allthingsdollartree, shows "Love Struck" body scrub, with the label acknowledging that the product is "inspired by Victoria's Secret Love Spell."

The dupe "smells spot on," the poster says in the description of the video.

On a visit to a Dollar General store in Ohio, Business Insider found another apparent dupe of Glow Recipe's face mask. The two-ounce jar sold for $5, much less than the $40 that the Glow Recipe original retails for on Sephora's website.

At a Dollar Tree location nearby, Business Insider found dupes as well as a selection of cosmetics from big brands like Maybelline and Revlon. There was also lipstick from Flower, a line of cosmetics launched by actor Drew Barrymore, star of the 1999 film "Never Been Kissed."

Representatives from Flower did not respond to Business Insider's questions on why and when the brand decided to sell through Dollar Tree.

Dollar General told Business Insider that it doesn't manufacture the watermelon mask or the ProFusion products, and objected to characterizations of the products as "dupes." "We do not infringe on others' intellectual property," a spokesperson told Business Insider.

"We are always listening to our customers, and in response we are investing in our personal care and beauty offerings to meet their needs," the spokesperson said.

Dollar Tree did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment on its strategy for selling beauty products.

Dollar stores see beauty products as an area where they can grow sales. Dollar Tree, for instance, estimated that health and beauty products represent a $121 billion market, according to Richard L. McNeely, the company's chief merchandising officer.

"We represent less than 1% of that market," McNeely said at an investor conference in June. He pointed to "a huge opportunity there," especially for Dollar Tree to sell products that cost less than $5 each.

Dollar General, meanwhile, rolled out an expanded selection of its own beauty products to about 300 stores last year. The company's products include face masks and bath bombs, it said in its announcement last March.

Gen Z shoppers have become especially enamored with dupes, looking for imitators of everything from makeup to clothes. For shoppers who don't want to spend the money on brand-name products, dupes offer a cheaper alternative.

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