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Run don’t walk to M&S because the supermarket has launched its Summer Beauty Bag for the ninth year running.
The 2026 edition, available in store and online while stocks last, goes on sale on Thursday and includes over £230 worth of beauty goodies for just £40 – and unlike in previous years, there’s no minimum spend in-store or online required to get your hands on the goods.
Those who manage to get their hands on the release can expect household names, like Hair by Sam McKnight, Estée Lauder and Clinique.
The bag contains 11 products to see shoppers through the summer months, with hydration heroes, sun protection spray, and light fragrance favourites.
Also included in the drop is an M&S yellow travel makeup bag to store all the beauty goods in.
Five full-sized products are included: the £26 ICONIC London Prep, Set & Glow, the £26 Hair By Sam McKnight Sundaze Seasalt Spray, the £25 Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean 2-in-1 Cleanser, the £27 Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion SPF and the £12.50 Leighton Denny Nail Polish.
Fans of Colour Wow, the award-winning brand focusing on coloured hair, are included with the £11.50 Colour Wow Shampoo and £12.50 Colour Wow Dreaming Mask.
And if that wasn’t enough, the £40 This Works Perfect Body Vitamin C Glow will give buyers that extra sheen this summertime, while the £25 Ultrasun Photo Age Control Fluid SPF 50 will keep you protected.
The bag also contains a scent for the warmer days – the £29 Floral Street Wonderland Peony Eau de Parfum
It comes after M&S released affordable homeware that looks just like a luxury brand loved by celebrities.
Taking a leaf out of Aldi and Lidl’s books, the retailer’s clothing department appears to be drawing inspiration from other high-end labels to create its new and trending items.
And after its recent successes, M&S interiors bosses now seem to be following suit, having created ‘quiet luxury’ items that resemble Soho Home’s offerings.
Soho Home, the upmarket homeware and interior design studio behind private members’ club Soho House, is often a go-to retailer for celebrities.
Now, likely hoping to profit off Soho Home’s somewhat inaccessible price points, M&S is giving customers a taste of the brand’s charming interiors at a much more affordable price.
Take, for instance, M&S’s Evelyn Floor Lamp. With its wooden bobbin stem and softly textured cone-shaped shade, it looks indistinguishable from Soho Home’s Greyson Floor Lamp.
The only apparent difference is the £716 price discrepancy, given the former is priced at £895, compared to the alternative version’s price of £179.
Other examples of M&S looking to the luxury brand include its £229 Hex Marble Top Side Table, which is comparable to the £1,295 Railton Bedside Table at Soho Home.
Then there’s a Cocoon Faux Sheepskin Swivel Snuggle Chair, priced at £1,079 – a high price point, but still less than Soho Home’s £1,695 take on a boucle armchair.
The same applies to smaller furnishings, and the supermarket’s £25 Pure Cotton Textured Fringe Cushion resembles Soho Home’s £250 Elton Square Cushion.
The supermarket’s homeware department is likely hoping for similar successes to its fashion section, which has experienced an incredible turnaround that sees the store worlds away from the days when the retailer’s own CEO admitted their clothing was associated with a certain frumpiness.
Today, it serves as a prime example of how to meet consumer needs by accommodating the demand for newness with standout pieces and wardrobe builders.
Now, while the brand hasn’t alienated its core base, there is the addition of unmistakably on-trend items lining the racks to tempt both younger buyers and millennial women who are very much invested in looking good – as well as celebrity collaborations with the likes of Sienna Miller and former Made in Chelsea star Binky Felstead.
