About

Dupe or Doop, short for "duplicate," is a slang term used in digital makeup, beauty and fashion communities to refer to lower-priced alternatives to popular high-end products. The phrase was popularized by makeup and fashion content creators promoting cheaper alternatives to luxury brands on YouTube throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, as well as the early 2020s. In 2022, people began using the word "dupe" as a sarcastic way to promote beauty and fashion alternatives. The term "dupe" has also been used in gaming communities since the 2000s to describe the use of bugs to create duplicates or copies of unique items or currency.

Origin

The word "dupe" was first widely used as video game lingo on the internet. Specifically, "duping" was the act of cheating or coding to replicate rare collectible items in early video games, a notable example being the Magenta or Purple Party Hat on RuneScape.^[16]

The word "dupe" has been used to reference cheaper yet similar versions of luxury cosmetics on YouTube since at least 2008, with the oldest known video to use the phrase "dupe" being posted on July 25th, 2008, by TheWorldsDresser,^[1] gathering over 23,000 views in 14 years (seen below, left). The makeup brand MAC often made an appearance in such late 2000s "dupe" lists, with YouTuber^[2] jdomakeup posting a MAC dupes video on April 20th, 2009, gathering over 100,000 views in 13 years (seen below, right).

The use of the word "dupe" to refer to makeup alternatives can also be traced back to beauty and makeup forums in the late 2000s. For example, on March 23rd, 2009, a user named Mizz.Coppertone posted a thread titled, "Drugstore MAC dupe list: Lips" to Specktra.com (seen below, left).^[3] On June 28th, 2010, Temptalia.com^[4] announced the publishing of their "Dupe List," a constantly updated and community contribution-run list of drugstore makeup alternatives (seen below, right).

Spread

On May 14th, 2016, BuzzFeed^[6] tweeted about a "dupe" for Kylie Jenner's lip kits, gathering over 1,000 likes in over six years (seen below, left). On October 24th, 2016, Twitter^[5] user @glowkit posted a meme about Jeffree Star's makeup line, gathering over 5,000 likes in six years (seen below, right).

YouTubers continued to make content about beauty and makeup "dupes" in the 2010s, with YouTube^[7] Tati posting a video titled, "DUPES – DUPES – DUPES !!! – Tati (GlamLifeGuru)" on July 11th, 2016, and gathering over 1 million views in six years (seen below, left). On September 13th, 2016, YouTuber^[8] Laura Lee posted a video titled, "Cheap Dupes for Highend Makeup Tutorial | Laura Lee," and gathered over 1 million views in six years (seen below, right).

On May 16th, 2019, Twitter^[9] user @Nick_LGrant posted a video about using a cheese grater as a "dupe" for walnut face scrubs, given that walnut scrubs are widely recognized as overly abrasive in beauty communities. The tweet gathered over 10,000 likes in three years (seen below).

I found a really good dupe for walnut face scrubs pic.twitter.com/dXvZTdp1vN

— Nicholas (@Nick_LGrant) May 16, 2019

According to a June 2022 report by Think With Google, searches for the word "dupe" rose by over 40 percent every year in the 2010s (seen below, left).^[10] A June 10th article by Yahoo Finance lists the top searched "dupes" on Google ranked by month (seen below, right).^[11]

"X Dupe / X DOOP" TikTok Trend

On December 15th, 2022, TikToker^[12] @keylimeleah posted a video parodying "x dupe" style content, gathering over 800,000 plays and 70,000 likes in over a month (seen below, left). On December 29th, 2022, TikToker^[13] @taytay_jane posted a video parodying "dupe" content, gathering over 900,000 plays and 140,000 likes in nearly two weeks (seen below, right).

@keylimeleah ALL IN OUR AMAZON STOREFRONT #dupe #fyp #target ♬ original sound – Leah

@taytay_jane

finding such good dupes at the little ole thrifty store🤣🤣

♬ original sound – Taylor

In early 2023, TikTokers began to parody "dupe" marketing by walking around stores and sarcastically suggesting low-end items as viable "dupes" or "doops" for luxury products. The earliest known video of a TikToker^[14] participating in the trend was posted by @blythe.desiree on January 2nd, 2023, gathering over 2.9 million plays and 600,000 likes in nearly two weeks (seen below, left). On January 3rd, TikToker^[15] @kelseylmao posted a video walking around a store spotting "doops" as well, gathering over 900,000 plays and 180,000 likes in nearly two weeks (seen below, right).

@blythe.desiree DOUPÉ #fyp #foryou #doupe #dupe #prada #fendi #gucci #skims #ysl #charlottetilbury #balenciaga ♬ original sound – blythe

@kelseylmao RUN don’t walk 🤩 #target #dupe ♬ original sound – Kelsey😈

Various Examples

@oliviarreiter #dupe #duped #dupeera ♬ original sound – olivia

@swagshady SPRINTTTT to your local target for a #targetdupe 🥰🥰 these #dupes ♬ original sound – shitney

@michelleeumnzr EL SALVADOR DUPE 🗣 #fyp #elsalvador ♬ original sound – michelle

@zoey23.19 Part 1 #pradadupe #walmart #buckermart #dupe @kenzie.mcmillin @mc swaggy ♬ original sound – Zoey

Search Interest

External References

^[1] YouTube – TheWordsDresser

^[2] YouTube – jdomakeup

^[3] Specktra – Drugstore MAC dupe list

^[4]  Temptalia – Dupe List

^[5] Twitter – glowkit

^[6] Twitter – Buzzfeed

^[7] YouTube – Tati

^[8] YouTube – Laura Lee

^[9] Twitter – Nick_LGrant

^[10] Think With Google – Consumer Trends

^[11] Yahoo Finance – Most Sought Product

^[12] TikTok – keylimeleah

^[13] TikTok – taytay_jane

^[14] TikTok – blythe.desiree

^[15] TikTok – kelseylmao

^[16] Wikipedia – Duping