For the Wellness Briefing, Glossy spoke with Angela Kim, Hearst Magazine’s executive director of global licensing, to learn about the publisher’s first Harper’s Bazaar Wellness at Sea cruise setting sail this weekend. The week-long cruise launches July 5 through a licensing partnership with Cunard luxury cruise lines and features a runway of partnership opportunities for wellness and beauty brands and retailers on future cruises.
Additionally, telehealth leader Midi Health launches clinical skin care, a rush of new intimate care brands arrive stateside, and postbiotics surge in growth as gut health continues to drive consumer spending.
Legacy publisher Hearst Magazines will launch its first wellness cruise next week
“Harper’s Bazaar is really well-known for beauty and fashion [expertise], but some people might be less familiar with our wellness and travel content, so it’s a way for us to actually expand to new audiences, as well,” Angela Kim, Hearst Magazine executive director of global licensing, told Glossy. “[Our goal is to] create this amazing, premium experience for Harper’s Bazaar’s audience and Harper’s Bazaar’s audience to be.”
Hearst’s first wellness cruise, called Harper’s Bazaar Wellness at Sea, will begin its week-long, maiden voyage on Sunday on Cunard’s Queen Anne ship. The cruise takes off from the English port city Southampton, a two-hour drive from London, and will cruise to Norway to visit a mix of small towns and Norway’s stunning fjords. Guests will deboard on July 12 back in Southampton.
“It’s one thing to read an article on Harpersbazaar.com,” Kim said. “It’s a whole new thing to spend the week talking about the brand and the brand’s angle on wellness and relaxation and energizing ways of living life.”
The price of the cruise starts at around $2,000 per person, depending on the room chosen, and includes access to most wellness programming with some activations including an upcharge. Tickets are currently sold out.
The cruise is hosted by a lineup of experts including Olympic silver medallist Katarina Johnson-Thompson, wellness and aging expert Karen Cummings-Palmer, wellness coaches Adrienne Adhami and Mariel Witmond, Elemis CEO Noella Gabriel, and Harper’s Bazaar U.K. editor‑in‑chief Lydia Slater. The cruise also offers access to Bazaar staffers, including group luxury beauty director Katy Young and beauty editor Medica Azaldin, who will be on board to host masterclasses, lead events and network with guests.
Bazaar has curated a laundry list of on-board programming into various buckets, like “relax,” “energize” and “recover.”
For example, the recovery offerings include stretch coaching, reflexology, pain-management acupuncture and anti-inflammatory leg therapies, while the energizing offerings include massage, workout classes and workshops about mindful eating. For those looking to relax, the Bazaar team curated a soothing lineup including meditation, acupuncture and breathwork.
Guests will also have access to wellness-themed, off-ship excursions curated by Harper’s Bazaar U.K. EIC Slater. These include a waterfall hike, a sauna experience, mountainside yoga and a standup paddleboard lesson, each set in a picturesque Norwegian setting.
The new cruise program is part of Hearst’s larger licensing play that currently includes Cosmopolitan Magazine-branded home decor and furniture and Country Living-branded bedding, cookware and other home goods. Kim told Glossy that her team is now working on new licensing deals for Women’s Health and Men’s Health as well.
Kim views Barzaar’s maiden voyage as a beta test for additional Hearst brands. “This is a great way for us to really learn the space and get familiar with all the different areas of the business,” Kim told Glossy. “It is definitely an area that we’re interested in [and] a great way to position our brand in partnership with the cruise [brands like Cunard].”
Kim has been with Hearst Magazines for more than five years. Her CV includes publisher Rodale, Inc., which Hearst acquired in 2018 and brought Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World and Prevention under the Hearst Magazines umbrella.
Hearst partnered with Cunard to promote the cruise in print ads across Hearst publications and full digital promotion across email, SMS and social media. Cunard promoted the wellness focus to its repeat guests. Kim told Glossy that the two companies have each attracted around half of attendees and that the majority of booked guests for this weekend’s cruise are “affluent travel cruise enthusiasts.”
Skin-care brand Elemis will gift guests products and its CEO will speak on a panel as part of an organic partnership. Kim sees future cruises as prime opportunities to host sponsored brand activations. “We are definitely interested,” Kim said. “[We want to] make this a multi-legged opportunity where there are different activations happening within the cruises.”
Cunard launched in 1839 and was acquired by Carnival Corporation between 1998 and 1999 for $705 million. Carnival Corporation reported $26.6 billion in revenue in 2025.
“We are excited about the [wellness] category, in general,” Kim said. The majority of our brands have a point of view about wellness, so I think there is a greater opportunity.”
News to know:
- Personal care-focused conglomerate Unilever is reportedly exploring the acquisition of supplement brand Thorne. Thorne launched in 1984 and currently has more than 300 products sold DTC and across top retailers. Thorne was acquired by L Catterton equity group in 2023 for approximately $680 million. Unilever currently owns supplement brands like Nutrafol, Olly and Liquid IV.
- The intimate wellness category is seeing more growth. A new U.S.-based brand called Mila has raised $2.5 million in seed funding, led by Mensch VC, to bring its female-designed intimate wellness brand to market. The company was founded by Kim Aviv and Ada Trujillo, a former fintech COO and marketing executive, respectively, and will sell lubricant, pleasure toys and more. This comes on the heels of a new intimate care brand, Juice, that launched in April with fruit-inspired vaginal suppositories sold DTC. Meanwhile, a new mass-priced vaginal care brand launched earlier this month from two former Burt’s Bees execs, including former CEO John Replogle, and a gynecologist. The line, called Alubri, launched at Target and Walmart with a $29 vaginal moisturizing gel and a $25 intimate serum. Finally, K-beauty brand Lactomedi announced this month that it will soon launch into 4,000 CVS locations with its cult-favorite intimate care gel, wash and cream. The line is popular on Amazon and TikTok for its multi-step intimate care routine.
- Midi Health, the female-focused telehealth provider, has entered the skin-care marketplace with the launch of prescription-strength skin care targeting midlife concerns such as collagen loss, slowed cell renewal, barrier dysfunction and hyperpigmentation. “Skin is a direct reflection of that hormone story, and for too long, women have been given cosmetic answers to a clinical question,” Midi Health CEO and co-founder Joanna Strober said in a statement. “Just like everything else we do at Midi, this skin-care line was born from listening to our patients and acting on what they need. They were asking for solutions, and because our clinicians are already treating the hormones driving these changes, now they can treat the skin, too.”
- Herbal supplement tincture brand Apothékary has raised $16 million in funding, led by Shiseido, NextLevel Management, angel investors, founders and family offices, to further expand into retail. Apothékary currently sells DTC and through Free People and Ulta Beauty.
- A new rush of beauty x fitness partnerships have rolled out this month, including Byoma skincare and Barry’s fitness studios, which will partner for Pride month with community classes and product sampling. Meanwhile, the pilates-inspired Solidcore boutique concept has partnered with Kourney Kardashian’s Lemme supplements. The partnership will promote Lemme’s Creatine gummy with Solidcore grip socks as a gift with purchase and class takeovers.
Stat of the week:
Gut health continues to drive consumer spending as the postbiotic supplement market surges. Similar to prebiotics and probiotics, postbiotics are positioned as the next generation of good-for-your-gut supplements and often include fermented ingredients to boost digestive health, immunity and other concerns. According to Future Market Insights, the postbiotic market is set to more than double over the next decade, reaching $2 billion at a 9.1% compound annual growth rate.
In the headlines:
What’s next for international shipping as EU ends de minimis exemption [Modern Retail]. Top trainers are becoming longevity coaches, not just workout experts [ATN News]. Liver health is the latest wellness obsession [Business Insider]. Kim Kardashian says she takes 35 supplements a day: ‘I have pill fatigue’ [People]. Novak Djokovic joins General Atlantic [Insider Fitt]. Dentist-founded brand The Smilery taps into oral microbiome [Happi].
Listen in:
Cindy Gustafson has checked off a laundry list of accomplishments during her first 18 months as CEO of Nutrafol. This includes double-digit growth, a product launch made to reach its smallest customer demographic, an app rollout designed to better retain customers and more. She joined the Glossy Beauty Podcast to unpack her strategy on the way to $1 billion in annual sales.
Need a Glossy recap?
Unilever’s jam-packed World Cup partnership is a beta test for its new social-first strategy. How Fast Retailing’s decades-long relationship with suppliers is enabling record-breaking revenue. New AI tools and deeper creator collaborations drive the fashion conversation at Cannes Lions. Victoria’s Secret is betting on creators to fuel its biggest fashion show yet. Canali is betting on leisurewear to lure younger customers. What defines ‘American fashion’ today? – with Articles of Interest host Avery Trufelman.
