When I was younger, I only got one treat from one place: Cold Stone’s vanilla ice cream. No mix-ins or fancy syrups. No heavy indecisions. Just plain vanilla bean ice cream. I’m not exactly sure why that was. Maybe it was its proximity to our frequented shopping center. Maybe it was because I possessed an overwhelming sweet tooth. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the way I’d always see some lucky fuck walk out with ice cream plastered all over their face, unaware of the sugar crash in t-minus 30 minutes. 

On the 21st night of September, Kelela and her opener, keiyaA, graced the stage of The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California, for night one of the highly anticipated new avatar LIVE tour. Fans were brought through a range of emotions, resembling lighthearted  dancing in the club to the emotional catharsis  after holding back for much too long. 

I’m not a girl, not yet a cake… or am I? NY-based visual artist Arielle Tesoriero makes cake girls, but her work itself argues that a cake girl isn’t really made, but is something that happens due to memory, time, and trauma. Arielle takes i-candy behind the scenes on her inspirations for the decadent and decaying sculptures, her Frankenstein-esque process in bringing them to life, and what her work says about society’s taste for women’s suffering. When Arielle put on her artist apron and got to baking for the first time, she didn’t know that what would come out of the oven of her creativity was a frosting-coated, anguished-laden girl made of cake. Her first perception of the creature she had brought to life was that it was some kind of trophy, a marker that her childhood naivety had finally been defeated by her adult realism. But as she continued to make the sugary sweet sculptures, the lines between what was real and what was cake began to blur. Her pieces began to reflect how expectation, desire, and memory accumulate and transform over time, only to be created and destroyed again and again. The cake girls explore the uncomfortable, the hyperfeminine, the playful, and the grotesque, and through her surreal compositions, Arielle represents selfhood as something inherently unstable. 

It didn’t take long to see that gourmands–fragrances good enough to eat, usually consisting of extravagant, evocative food notes that would belong on the dessert menu– were clearly the top seller, with customers coming in knowing exactly what they were looking for. Brands such as Kayali, Phlur, Skylar, and Sol de Janeiro unequivocally came out in front with leading notes of vanilla, marshmallow, pistachio, and even cake. I sell multiple bottles of the Vanilla Skin body mist (top: pink pepper; heart: cashmere woods; base: vanilla and sandalwood) per day, with customers beelining towards Kayali’s Yum Boujee Marshmallow (top: Italian lemon, freesia; heart: strawberry, pink marshmallow, orange blossom water; base: whipped vanilla, pink musk) and Yum Pistachio Gelato (top: hazelnut, sweet rum, pistachio gelato; heart: jasmine, white peach, pear; base: whipped cream, marshmallow, cotton candy). 

Coffee — the beverage of the working woman. From cappuccinos to espressos, coffee has been the go-to beverage for the modern-day workforce. Ranging from disposable cups to dainty coffee mugs, this comforting beverage has played an important role in contemporary, arguably feminist media through depicting women in the fast-paced corporate world. Coffee balances both sweetness and bitterness, a delectable representation of the tension between heightened stakes and endless opportunities. We consume coffee in our everyday lives and see it reflected even more on our TV screens. Coffee plays a significant role in media and television, particularly in the portrayal of the career woman and student. Think of brand-new fashion interns hurriedly picking up coffees for their austere boss or driven students pulling all-nighters — cardboard coffee cups in hand. But what makes this drink so important? What was its role in noughties ‘chick flick’ work dramas — and how has it made these dramas impactful?

twenty years ago, the world was introduced to orange county’s finest: jeana keough, kimberly bryant, jo de la rosa, lauri waring petersen and vicki gunvalson- the founding mothers of bravo’s the real housewives. the oc housewives birthed a reality tv phenomenon with the launch of twelve real housewives series, along with international editions and several spinoffs, including the real housewives ultimate girls trip: roaring 20th, which premieres on august 9th. despite its cultural impact, the franchise is often perceived by critics as toxic depictions of women that perpetuate “negative stereotypes.” i believe that the real housewives achieve quite the contrary. the show gives audiences the discernment to recognize toxic traits in relationships through complex relationship dynamics, and asserts that even though society rushes for success, the things that make life sweet are still yet to come.