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A Video Intelligence Report

The Dupe
Economy

Inside the 315-million-view creator conversation rewriting how luxury gets bought, worn, and replaced — and the 83% of it that no social listening tool can see.

Jan 19 – Apr 12, 2026 3,052 videos analyzed 2,025 creators TikTok & Instagram

The word "dupe" used to live in a whisper. It lived between shoppers, in group chats, in the kind of advice friends gave each other in dressing rooms. Today it is the loudest verb in consumer culture — and the video internet is where it lives out loud. Over 85 days, creators uploaded one dupe video every 40 minutes on average. The conversation hit 315 million views. And almost none of it showed up in hashtags.

3,052
Videos
315M
Views
24.3M
Engagements
7.07%
Avg Eng. Rate
2,025
Creators
83%
Shadow Reach
Part I · The Blind Spot

The dupe economy is mostly invisible to the tools brands pay for.

Traditional social listening reads captions and hashtags. It does not listen to the video. Which is exactly where creators are naming names.

Shadow Reach · Oriane Exclusive

2,627 of 3,052 dupe videos never typed the word "dupe" in the caption.

Creators said it — on camera, out loud, to their audiences. 261 million views of dupe conversation lived entirely in spoken audio. Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Meltwater, and every text-based listening tool saw 17% of this story. Oriane saw all of it.

Text-Only Tools
425 vids
Oriane
3,052 vids
Text views
53.4M
Oriane views
314.9M
01

Fragrance is the dupe category no one talks about — because no one has to.

Perfume & cologne leads every other category in dupe volume: 800 videos, 58M views, and an entire creator class (fragrance reviewers with 1–3M audiences) who exist to match expensive scents to cheap ones. Luxury fashion still thinks dupes are a makeup problem.

800 videos · 58M views
02

Macro creators have the highest dupe engagement of any tier.

Conventional wisdom says micro outperforms macro on engagement. In dupe content, the opposite is true: 1M+ creators post dupe videos at 10.1% ER — 43% higher than micro. Dupe content travels best through trusted, at-scale voices. Think Jeffree Star, not your neighbor.

Macro ER: 10.06%
03

99.3% of dupe content carries no sponsorship tag.

Only 21 videos of 3,052 are disclosed as sponsored — and those 21 earn just 1.1M views against the ecosystem's 315M. The dupe economy runs on pure organic enthusiasm. Brands don't pay for this; creators volunteer it. That is both its power and its risk.

Organic ER 7.08% · Sponsored ER 4.37%

Dupes used to be a secondary market. In 2026, they are the primary conversation — and the luxury original is the reference, not the purchase.

— Editorial read of 3,052 videos
Part II · What's Being Duped

The categories where "close enough" became a purchase decision.

Not all categories are equal in the eyes of a duper. Some are safe. Some are sacred. Here is how creators ranked them by behavior.

By Conversation Volume
01
Fragrance
800 vids
6.42%
02
Lipstick & Lip
512 vids
8.00%
03
Skincare
409 vids
7.43%
04
Highlighter
404 vids
7.70%
05
Blush
369 vids
7.53%
06
Handbag & Bag
346 vids
7.76%
07
Clothing & Fashion
332 vids
7.04%
By Engagement Rate
01
Body Care
140 vids
9.62%
02
Setting Spray/Powder
146 vids
8.75%
03
Concealer
186 vids
8.28%
04
Eyeshadow
141 vids
8.17%
05
Foundation
185 vids
8.17%
06
Lipstick & Lip
512 vids
8.00%
07
Eyeliner
213 vids
7.89%
Part III · The Leaderboard

The brands creators name when they say the word "dupe."

A brand can be the target of a dupe or the solution to one. Both are conversation. Both are share of voice. Here are the 15 names that came up most.

#
Brand
Mentions
Views
Eng. Rate
01
Charlotte Tilbury ORIGINAL
162videos
14.7Mviews
7.46%avg ER
02
L'Oréal DUPE
161videos
15.3Mviews
7.97%avg ER
03
e.l.f. DUPE
153videos
21.2Mviews
8.22%avg ER
04
Maybelline DUPE
132videos
21.5Mviews
7.61%avg ER
05
NYX DUPE
132videos
20.8Mviews
8.08%avg ER
06
YSL / Saint Laurent ORIGINAL
126videos
10.5Mviews
6.54%avg ER
07
Rare Beauty ORIGINAL
123videos
20.2Mviews
8.29%avg ER
08
Dior ORIGINAL
121videos
15.9Mviews
6.78%avg ER
09
Essence DUPE
120videos
16.6Mviews
8.39%avg ER
10
Rhode ORIGINAL
119videos
16.6Mviews
7.38%avg ER
11
Louis Vuitton ORIGINAL
95videos
8.0Mviews
6.23%avg ER
12
Chanel ORIGINAL
87videos
8.6Mviews
7.06%avg ER
13
Sol de Janeiro ORIGINAL
79videos
8.1Mviews
8.78%avg ER
14
Hourglass ORIGINAL
69videos
12.9Mviews
7.36%avg ER
15
Fenty Beauty ORIGINAL
52videos
8.9Mviews
9.25%avg ER
The Originals · Aspirations

Most-referenced luxury names

  1. Charlotte Tilbury162 vids · 14.7M
  2. YSL / Saint Laurent126 vids · 10.5M
  3. Rare Beauty123 vids · 20.2M
  4. Dior121 vids · 15.9M
  5. Rhode119 vids · 16.6M
  6. Louis Vuitton95 vids · 8.0M
  7. Chanel87 vids · 8.6M
  8. Sol de Janeiro79 vids · 8.1M
The Answers · The Dupes

Most-referenced accessible names

  1. L'Oréal161 vids · 15.3M
  2. e.l.f.153 vids · 21.2M
  3. Maybelline132 vids · 21.5M
  4. NYX132 vids · 20.8M
  5. Essence120 vids · 16.6M
  6. Milani53 vids · 3.7M
  7. Revolution38 vids · 5.8M
  8. ColourPop21 vids · 3.9M
Part IV · The Vernacular

The exact phrases driving 95M+ views.

When a creator says "dupe," it rarely stands alone. It's grammar has variations — and each variation signals a different relationship to the original.

dupe for
525 videos · 59.5M views
dupe of
361 videos · 30.2M views
exact dupe
38 videos · 4.9M views
best dupe
36 videos · 3.9M views
perfect dupe
34 videos · 1.7M views
is/are dupes
20 videos · 2.4M views
affordable dupe
13 videos · 550K views
my favorite dupe
8 videos · 388K views

"Dupe for" is the most common syntax — a creator validating an alternative. "Dupe of" is the second — a creator exposing one. The difference is a business strategy.

— Oriane linguistic signal analysis
Part V · The Creator Machine

Where dupe content actually travels.

Conventional influencer math says engagement decays with scale. In dupe content, that logic inverts. Macro creators are the movement.

Nano · Under 10K
The Novices
6.23%
115 videos · 3.2M views
3.8% of total volume
Micro · 10K–100K
The Beta Testers
6.30%
1,224 videos · 57.5M views
40.1% of total volume
Mid · 100K–1M
The Workhorses
7.07%
1,372 videos · 157.6M views
45.0% of total volume
Macro · 1M+
The Verdict Givers
10.06%
341 videos · 96.6M views
11.2% of total volume
Part VI · The Names

The 10 creators shaping the dupe conversation.

Toggle between two lenses: who brings the scale, and who earns the strongest reaction per view.

Creator Videos Total Views Followers Avg ER
@viviank.h
TikTok
1 8.10M 242.8K 8.68%
@danielrenemusic
TikTok · Fragrance
12 6.17M 1.7M 9.15%
@nikkietutorials
Instagram · Beauty
2 5.15M 18.9M 5.91%
@itsbabykelz
TikTok · Beauty
3 4.44M 524.2K 12.16%
@jeffreestar
TikTok · Beauty
1 4.30M 8.3M 7.10%
@anthonyreactsss
TikTok · Reviews
5 4.18M 65.2K 11.39%
@realistic__grwm
TikTok · GRWM
5 3.96M 840.8K 7.57%
@courtneylcook
TikTok · Beauty
3 3.70M 579.4K 8.68%
@andreaiescorcia
TikTok · Español
1 3.60M 2.7M 14.55%
@madeleine_white
TikTok · Lifestyle
1 3.30M 5.1M 12.56%
Creator Videos Total Views Followers Avg ER
@meeinahs_thrift_city
TikTok · Thrifting
3 323.6K 526.2K 22.59%
@lillianclairee
TikTok · Beauty
2 1.06M 298.2K 21.45%
@awilkyy
TikTok
2 308.5K 329.0K 20.52%
@thepinklibra
TikTok · Beauty
2 903.5K 2.0M 20.43%
@eleealonso
TikTok · Español
3 157.6K 52.6K 19.28%
@kjordyn03
TikTok · Beauty
3 315.9K 401.8K 17.71%
@dorsterisaname
TikTok · Beauty
8 203.8K 1.4M 16.35%
@andreaiescorcia
TikTok · Español
1 3.60M 2.7M 14.55%
@madeleine_white
TikTok · Lifestyle
1 3.30M 5.1M 12.56%
@itsbabykelz
TikTok · Beauty
3 4.44M 524.2K 12.16%
Part VII · What Brands Should Do

Six strategic moves for the dupe era.

Every recommendation is tied to a specific data point in this report. None of them say "post more content."

01

Luxury brands: assume 83% of your dupe exposure is invisible to your agency.

If you're briefing a social listening partner on "dupe conversation" using text-based tools, you're missing five-sixths of it. The exposure isn't gone — it's spoken, not typed. Mandate multimodal coverage or accept that your strategy is built on a caption-sized fraction of the truth. Charlotte Tilbury, Dior, Chanel, Rhode all surface in thousands of conversations that their current dashboards cannot see.

Shadow reach: 2,627 videos · 261M views
02

Fragrance houses: wake up. You are the silent dupe category.

Perfume & cologne is the #1 dupe category by volume — 800 videos, 58M views — and yet luxury fragrance brands still behave as if their conversation lives on magazine pages. Creators like @danielrenemusic (6.2M views, 12 dupe videos), @noeldeyzel_fragrance, @thebenscents, and @ilangm are running full-time comparison shops. Either engage this creator class directly or watch them define your products for free.

Fragrance category: 800 vids · 58M views
03

Mass-market brands: macro creators are your missing channel.

Macro creators (1M+ followers) post dupe content at 10.06% ER — 43% higher than micro and 60% higher than nano. This inverts the typical influencer tier logic. In dupe content, authority + scale beats intimacy. e.l.f., L'Oréal, Maybelline, NYX and Essence should rethink their "micro-heavy" seeding models for this specific content type.

Macro ER: 10.06% vs. Micro: 6.30%
04

Own the "dupe for" language. Avoid "dupe of."

"Dupe for" (525 vids, 59.5M views) is the grammar of validation — a creator endorsing an alternative. "Dupe of" (361 vids, 30.2M views) is the grammar of exposure — a creator revealing a cheaper version. For mass brands, "dupe for" associations are pure gold. For luxury brands, "dupe of" is a threat vector. Monitor by exact phrase, not by the word "dupe" alone.

59.5M views behind "dupe for" alone
05

Body care is the engagement sleeper — invest before everyone else does.

Body care leads all dupe categories on engagement rate at 9.62% — higher than skincare, foundation, or mascara. Yet its volume (140 videos) is a fraction of those larger categories. This is the product of a conversation that's building but hasn't peaked. Sol de Janeiro, Nécessaire, Glow Recipe, and the entire bath-and-body luxury segment should be positioning for this wave now, not after.

Body care ER: 9.62% — highest of 16 categories
06

The top 15 "repeat dupers" are worth more than a traditional influencer campaign.

15 creators have posted 10+ dupe videos in this 85-day window. 66 have posted 5+. These are unpaid evangelists running de-facto comparison brands. For mass-market challengers, a seeding program targeting these 15–66 creators — with early product access and no sponsorship tag (preserve the organic signal) — converts existing loyalty into a structured pipeline. @itsbabykelz, @dorsterisaname, @thebenscents, @ilangm, @shelbyannbell, @bigdaddybsfoods are names to start with.

66 creators have made 5+ organic dupe videos
The Method Behind the Report

Ready to see your brand's shadow reach?

Every video in this report was detected by Oriane's multimodal AI — spoken word transcription, caption parsing, and visual logo recognition. It is the only way to see the 83% of brand conversation that lives beyond text. Book a 20-minute demo and we'll show you yours.

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