The big business of sexy shows (and what to watch next)

0:08This episode of Stylish is brought to you by Koala. Their biggest sale of the year is now on with up to 30 % off everything. This is Stylish, the podcast for all things fashion, lifestyle, brand and beauty. My name is Madison Sullivan Thorpe and I am joined by my fabulous co-hosts, Joanna Fleming and Annika Georgie Smith. She's back in her chair. I know, I feel like I've missed this chair, you guys. It also feels like yesterday that you went on Matt Leaf. I actually can't believe that it's happened this quickly. Actually, you texted us earlier this week. You're like, wait, I'm back next week. I know.

0:42And like Poppy is 11 weeks this Wednesday. When this episode airs, she's 11 weeks. Wow. She was born on a stylish Wednesday. I think that's quite iconic. That is iconic actually. Super iconic. I feel honored. Yeah, me too. What is your favorite thing about being Poppy's mommy so far? She is just the funniest little human. She's so much sass. Like the attitude on the small human is unreal. Like that's how James and I look at her and he's like, that's definitely your daughter. But she's going to be, yeah, a little diva, something else. I just love that she, every week she does something different.

1:16Like she just learned how to laugh. Guys, the laugh is the cutest thing. Like you just look at her and she's a perfect time waster. Is she in Aries or a Pisces? Oh, God, I forget. I'm going to go with the Aries. 18th of March, 2026. Firmly in Pisces. Yeah. See, that surprises me because she does have very aggressive facial expressions. Right. What are you trying to say about Aries? She gets really, yeah. And Aries would be more aggressive. I honestly think that she's going to tell you how she really feels. She had this photographer around recently and she was like, I feel like your child looks into my soul.

1:52And I was like, ooh. She really connects on quite an emotional and deep level. Next time I come over, I'm going to bring my astrology book because then I can actually work out what her rising is. And I think that'll make sense. Okay, let's do it. Okay, on Friday, I know I put this in our Slack channel. Susan Boyle is giving Kim Kardashian West, and I use that name because that was her name at the time. She's giving strong Kim Kardashian West 2015, 2016 energy. Did you see this? I had to double tack. I literally was like, wait, who's that? And then Susan Boyle, where the hell have you been? She came back and she is serving a look.

2:27Yeah, a Joanna Fleming look, might I add. She was fully in my palette, which I was really vibing. I actually have that exact outfit. Do you know what it's giving? That she's taken Annika's sunglasses and your coat. I don't know what she took from me. Maybe like the gloss and liner. But I don't think the musical sound that we're going to get given this look is going to be, I dreamed a dream. Like I think we're going to get something a bit more retro. Yeah. She just remembered how beautiful her voice is. That took me back and I was saying your voice is not quite the same. I'm like, you know, try to hit those high notes.

2:58She's actually got the most beautiful voice, doesn't she? Yeah. I'm actually excited to see what she does come out with. Yeah. Well, I remember that she also got a Marty Supreme jacket from Timothy when he was doing the Marty Supreme press tour. Like he was saying that he wanted to give a Marty Supreme jacket, if he could give it to anyone who was like a dreamer in the UK, he'd pick her. So I actually, Susan Boyle's been on my mind since then. Okay. She really is leaning into the Kardashians here, isn't she? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's where she drew the insult. Do a leaper's wedding to Callum Turner?

3:28Have two hotter people ever, I just, I just woke up. There she goes. And I thought, everything I wanted for the Monday has arrived and it's not even 7am. Yeah, I really like to start a week that way when you open up socials and you're like, oh, this is some juice. I just got so excited by the outfitting. Like, Bianca Jagger, hello. I think for Dora as well. Like, we always expect something a little bit different and just so unconventional. And this look she nailed and it makes me so excited about the actual wedding dress. Like, what is that going to be? I know. And I feel like that's great context because it is hotly rumoured that this was the courthouse civil ceremony before she has what is anticipated to be a wedding somewhere in Europe.

4:08But it was, I mean, still not exactly the average courthouse wedding. She was in custom Schiaparelli. She had a Bulgari, oh, what's the necklace called? I've gone blank. You of all people should know this. I know. I want to say serpentine, but I think I'm so wrong. Yes, no, you're right. Thank you so much. God, I've missed you being in that chair. And a pair of Louboutins, no less. And the hat, I mean, hello, sun-smart queen. Let me bring up the hat, please. The wide-brim hat on the wedding day. I honestly would have done something similar. If it was going to work with my look, I would have done the hat.

4:39So I'm glad that she did. And I mean, he looked quite dapper himself. He did. It's a Ferragamo suit, I believe. Don't know who did the suit, but fantastic. I think I did see that somewhere. Just all round five star. I'm so excited. I just think they're such a hot couple. And that was like the ultimate modern day like courthouse situation. I feel like if I could have my time again, I would have a courthouse wedding and that would be it. And then a big party. I will eventually have a second wedding. And I do think that I will do like a chic little courthouse look, a little mini moment perhaps. A wide brim.

5:08I think I'll leave that. I don't know that it's, you know, there's not. Depends what the UV is doing, Maddie. It'll be like footage of you just like strapping a visor on me at my wedding. Can't wait. Well, that brings us to the swap, and I'm going to start you off, Annika, because I think you should be going first, given that you're back in your seat and that you always went first. Dad. It only feels right. Okay, so we've been having a little bit of a joke off mic because Mads keeps calling my mobile phone keychain strand. I think we agreed it was a beaded phone chain. A beaded phone chain. You guys, I am obsessed with this.

5:45Give them a little ASMR. Okay, so can you hear this, everybody? Listen to that. Listen to that ASMR. Mads was calling them anal beads, but that's simply not. They are. That was an off mic discussion. And she's brought it on mic, okay? Guys, we don't like to leave the listeners out. We bring them into the conversation in these four walls at all times. I'm unfiltered now. Like, just you wait to see what else I'm going to say. As opposed to before when you were so filtered? No, but okay. So, guys, hear me out. Practical, functional, I think chic. When I was in Sydney for Fashion Week, I lose my phone all the time.

6:22It's actually kind of funny because I still lose my phone now, but I forget it's actually attached to me. But these are these super chic, I think, wooden beads. And they go, you know my Jill Sander crossbody bag that I just wear all the time? This phone is actually just too big to actually fit in there properly. So now it's like it does the part because it's doing the same thing. But I got it from the super cute shop on William Street called Poepke. and actually now someone who was undeniably chic, Sarah Donaldson. Do you guys follow her? She used to be Harper and Harley back in the day. Oh, yes, of course.

6:52So she has the beautiful online store, The Undone. And so if you're a minimalist, I'm looking at both of you, like her EDMs would be such constant inspiration. She is now number three and she started a side hobby where she actually makes these. So the queen of chic herself makes these. So therefore this is chic. Okay. Okay. Full stop. She said what she said. Jo, what's your swap? My swap is actually a dehumidifier. Is that like kind of, I suppose it's not cleaning, it's more house and home. Yeah, I would say it's house and home. So I decided to invest in one finally. I was actually influenced talking to someone that I saw at an event the other night and he was like, I have my dehumidifier on all the time and it just like really draws the moisture out.

7:37Anyway, so after last week's episode, how I was saying about the smelly carpet, We actually had them professionally done because they're just the improvement from the Bizzle was not enough for me. I'm still actually really stand by that recommendation though, because I did my rug too. Anyway, separately to that, bought the dehumidifier. It drew out 21 litres of water in a day. Pardon? Was your house flooded? No. Well, it was steam cleaned. So obviously the carpets were damp. Yeah. But then I ran it the following day in our spare room and it still like drew out heaps of moisture. Oh, I'm second.

8:11What is my house going to be like? I just think it's a really good thing to have available to you. And it also helps your clothes to dry faster as well. So if you have them hanging on the, you know, clothes horse inside, especially for us in Melbourne, where it's so freaking cold, your clothes take literally like five days to dry. Put a dehumidifier on, whack it on. That's a great hack. Yeah. Yeah. I think this would be great because my dryer is playing up a little bit at the moment too. And I really just don't want to be responsible enough to have to go and buy another one. There's some things you just don't want to put in a dryer as well.

8:37Sorry to go down the cleaning route, but yeah, you've really got to be careful with that. If I put my jeans in there, they wouldn't fit. Well, yeah, exactly. So I think the dehumidifier you can run and that's not going to be detrimental to some fabrics that shouldn't go in the dryer or be dried really quickly. It's just going to like speed up the drying, natural drying process. Brilliant. Interesting. Can you tell us the brand? I got it from Amazon. I'll send it to our producer, Kate, and I'll get her to put it in the episode notes. I love this because every time you do drop a cleaning head, guys.

9:04Like, let's be honest, I do buy them at the house straight away. So I'm like dehumidifier coming home with me. Well, I used to use those moisture absorbers. Yes, I remember you swapped those in ones. And they are really good, but I think the dehumidifier is just a bit more powerful than mine. So this is like a supercharged swap on a previous swap. Yeah. Love that. Yep. Mads, do you want to go? I don't want to forget you this week. No, please don't. Do you know what? We have cameras in the room and I almost want to look down the bottom of the barrel of this camera as a love letter to this swap.

9:31I definitely have a habit of hyperfixation snacks. So we know that last year it was Bomberi. Yes. And look, Bomberi, love you. But grilled HFC chicken bites. I want to know what you're cooking them in because I cannot stop. Sometimes it just gets to 3pm in the afternoon and I'm like, could I get them? Could I get them tonight? Like I'm an adult with adult money and I shouldn't be allowed to be. Are these like popcorn chicken? Like what size chicken are we talking about? Small pieces? Cause I like chicken in small pieces. Okay. No, it would be like if a nugget and a popcorn chicken had a baby. So it's somewhere kind of in the middle.

10:12You kind of don't know. They're a bit miscellaneous. You don't know what size of them you're going to get. Oh, they're a regular shape. They're breast. They're cooked in olive oil with a grilled herb mayo. I can't stop thinking about them. My best friend and I will text each other randomly on a night and be like, have already had dinner, and she'll be like, should we just get six or nine? I'll get them delivered upstairs now. And I run up and we go and have them together. Well, you did get me on to, what are they called? Snuggets. Yeah, Snuggets from Schnitz. I love snacks. They're great. She loves chicken.

10:41That's what I'm taking away from her. My little chickie babe. Maybe don't make the chicken sound effects, Madison. Look, they're bloody yum. This TikTok that I found as well, She's clearly on the HFC train as well. Her name is Lily Turden and she wrote, when they say listen to what your body wants, but all my body wants to do is eat grilled for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it was the HFC chicken bites. And I was like, my queen. Wait, tell me, what does HFC stand for? Healthy fried chicken. Oh. Okay, so she's on the marketing campaign as well. I know, like, duh. I'm like, we should have known.

11:14I'm so sorry, girl. I'm so sorry to not know that. Do you know what? I'm obsessed. I can't stop thinking about it. Oh, and herb mayo, which is like$1.80, rip. It's now a Coles in a full-size bottle for six bucks. Oh, wow. So you just, you bring that from home. No, I'm not an animal. I get grilled, ordered to my home. Okay, nice. So I get it out of my fridge. Yeah, good. Well, what a great hack. Great. Thank you for swapping that in, Miss T. Well, that takes me to telling you what's on today's episode, given that we have, I don't, spoken for the last 15 minutes. So today we're talking about the viral dot cakes that have been taking the internet by storm.

11:48We're actually going to be trying them live on air. And the big business of young adult TV, if you listen to Madison's swap from, was that last week or the week before? Week before. Off campus, very popular right now. And Arnica and I have both been binging it over the weekend. But we'll get to that right after a word from today's sponsor. A lot of us spend hours thinking about what to wear, but much less time thinking about the pieces we live with every day. But the right furniture can have just as much impact on how a space feels, which is why we're always interested in those investment pieces that balance style, comfort and longevity.

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12:57The Viral Dot Cake. Annika, I know that you kind of dip in and out of TikTok, so I don't know if you would have seen this, but it's the dessert trend that has been all over the algorithm. And when we were coming into the studio, we were holding said dot cakes and Zara McDonald, co-founder of Shameless Media, was outside and she was like, I'm off TikTok but I've seen them on Instagram which means they really are everywhere now. Have you been like on this side of the internet? Yes, so I'm still off TikTok. I kind of dip my toe in and out because my algorithm, guys, it's just so random. Like no one actually wants to know what my algorithm is.

13:29It's like winding babies like burping and just so unsexy. I know there's nothing fun about my algorithm but I did see this and I saw this because the brand blueprint underscore dropped it on her feed and I just love her for all things marketing and tidbits and I was like wait a second fairy bread like that's something I'm familiar with and then the whole dot cake trend I had to deep dive into because I just quite didn't understand the hype like our fellow American friends did honestly I just saw it keep popping up and I was like I don't know what this is I just keep saying you know sometimes you're like I don't know what this is and I'm not going to dive into it and then it came up in our whip and I was like oh you're like I've seen those little things.

14:07I've seen that heaps, yeah. Okay, so they actually originate from New York. There's a place called Butterfield Market and they retail for 11 USD, which is pretty steep. It's like 15.50 Australian. You could literally make a whole cake for that amount. Yeah. I don't beg, so you do the math, I'll trust you. But basically it's vanilla cake inside like a paper plastic cup and then it's topped with icing and then dipped in with sprinkles. In Australia, we would obviously say hundreds and thousands. So not dissimilar to a fairy bread, but like we're missing out on some like butter and you know tip top here.

14:38Can I ask a question? Go for your left. I left the raised hand. Okay Hermione Granger. It's not a visual but I did just raise my hands. She would be that student at school as well. What I have seen is that the top of it's like hardened like it's you can like scrape a thing across it like a spoon. Ours have been at room temp for a bit so I don't know that's the case for us. I can do a little tap for ASMR. Okay. No that does sound Yeah. It's like loud enough. So Melbourne content creator Lexi Lobb kind of kicked this off, I would say, for the Aussies. And I feel like I've seen so many other creators making it, the likes of Jackie Alexander, Riley Hemsson, like you name it, the creators are doing it and they're getting so many views.

15:20The internet's also so divided about it, but Lexi went so viral that La Mana and Sons, which is a popular cafe, they've got one in Cremorne and one in South Yarra here in Melbourne, they partnered with Lexi to basically do a limited drop over the weekend. Iconic. And they sold out on the Saturday. So we messaged Lexi on Friday. She very kindly has given us a voice note on the dot cakes and how it's just absolutely gone viral for her on her TikTok. And shout out to her for actually being the sweetest human in the whole world. She actually personally made me some dot cakes on Friday. Aw, I love this girl.

15:52I just wanted you to try them before you record it on Monday. That's so nice. So you know what they say? Don't meet your heroes. but in Lexi Lobb's case, you definitely should. What a honey. Let's listen to the little voice note from Lex. Well, here I am kicking off another week talking about Dot Cakes, although I am fairly certain the Dot Cakes trend is going to die off this week, which I'm completely okay with because I feel like, especially over here in Australia, they've had a great run. We actually don't have access to the actual Dot Cakes, which is a company, by the way. So naturally I was curious, and although it is just an icing cake and sprinkles combination, I thought, why not make it with the iconic Betty Crocker box mix?

16:28So I filmed myself making it and the video popped off and then I just thought, you know, I'm going to make a few different flavors and have a bit of fun with it. And I think it's hilarious because at the end of the day, yes, it is a cake, like I just said before, with icing and sprinkles. But seeing how mad that can make some people and I don't know why this is just what happens on TikTok with a trend, positive or negative. People just want to have a say or want to have a comment on it. And I think just seeing, you know, how much joy it brought to some people and then how angry it made others because people just think it's so stupid, it's really funny to me.

17:03I love how unbothered she is. Highly rate that. There was a video, like, someone had obviously posted being like, you're wasting so much cake. And she uploaded a video that she'd taken over the leftovers to, like, the builders at the house next door. And I'm like, she should do a rebuttal video of a goddamn dot cake. But here we are. Thank you so much to both Lexi Lobb and LaMana and Sons who have very kindly delivered. Oh, I've just lost a sprinkle. I'm going to sprinkle down. Diva down, Diva down. Okay. So we, Jo and I have vanilla. No, we're meant to surprise everyone. Are we? No, with what it tastes like.

17:37Yeah, that's the, like, the whole, it's a labubu. Oh. We know what flavour, but we know. No, shh. We pretend we don't. Okay. Like, that's the surprise and delight. I've got vanilla. Okay. Isn't that the whole reason we buy them? No, it's not like a surprise. You know what flavour you buy when you buy the dot cake. Annika clearly has not been on TikTok. So when you buy, it's not like a LeBouBou. When you buy the dot cake, you buy what flavour you want. It just all looks the same on the top and they are categorised by flavour. Guys, this is such a good idea. It should be like a surprise. I think it's too late, babe.

18:11Okay. Lexi said the dot cake's out as of this week, so a little too late for you. Okay. Head of podcast, Lucy. Hun and our senior podcast producer, Kate Emmerberg, have also got one. So we're not leaving anyone out. All right. We're going to do a live react. I feel like I've got to move my mic away. I feel like I've got it. I'm so excited. I'm crying. Can't work my mouth. Digging in. Oh, it's a very, very thick icing. Oh, it's like quite really taking you on the journey. It's like quite. Sorry to chew into the microphone. Hang on. I highly rate mine. Oh, my God. It's like moist. I can hear. It's creamy.

18:48It's foamy I love the sound of people chewing So sorry I'm deep in my mic Wait So this is just a Betty Crocker cake Sorry I don't want to discredit No So Lex's original Was with the Betty Crocker cake But I think LaMana and Sons Have made their own cake mix It's actually really delicious Oh yum Okay Where does this take us? This is like for me Such a sense of nostalgia I am literally at a five year old's party And I'm eating my fairy bread And I'm very very very happy about it Do you know what though? It is nostalgia and I think that's why it's going off. And I know that it's made some people so angry, but I also think it's made some people so happy.

19:23I rang her girlfriend on Saturday morning and I was like, what are you doing? And she's like, just making some dot cakes. I was like, what? She's like, I've made my own icing from scratch. It's been such an enjoyable, nice, slow morning. And I'm like, what? But it is. It's nostalgia. And I think we're not new to a recipe video going off on TikTok. I mean, we go back to 2020 to 2022 and we've got, you know. Don't remind me. C word we don't want to say. You know, it was the Gigi Hadid vodka pasta and then we had the beef hot honey bowl. We've had the cucumber salads and you couldn't bloody buy a cucumber.

19:56I detested that trend because I just put it. Maddie's waving her spoon around. Wingardium, let me use it. I do agree, though, that people are just searching for some joy. Like this really reminded me of that Mean Girls scene where she was like, I just wish I could make a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone being happy. It just feels a lot like that. Like people just want to do something that's A, easy to do because you don't need any skills to make this dot cake. It's a bit like the cucumber salad and that feta pasta that everyone was making. Even I could make those things and I don't belong in the kitchen.

20:30So I think it's just one of those scenarios where it's an easy trend to hop on. You can get around the hype and it's yummy. Do you know what I really like about this trend too? And not to make it serious, but the world is very serious right now and very stressful from every corner. And also all of those trends we've spoken about, I think, you know, you take some of the more recent ones, they're centered around calories or they're centered around protein. I love that this is just about the joy of eating something really yummy that looks fun and is pretty and relaxing to make. And it's not about how many grams of protein you're going to get or how many calories under it could be or how it's great for a calorie deficit.

21:08It's just the joy of eating. And at a time when we've never spoken about peptides or weight loss more than probably 20 years ago, I'm really excited to see largely young women enjoying food and joy. Getting right into a sweet treat. I mean, I've got half of it's gone. I'd love someone else to say something so I can have another bite. I want to keep eating, but the sprinkles are really loud. I might have to come back to it in our break. Well, I personally, I just love it. I think it takes us back to a simpler time. And I think that's what we're craving right now. Life is so serious. It's so unbothered.

21:40It's like the easiest thing you could also do at home and recreate with your friends. Like I actually quite like my idea of doing like, surprise, what like filling do you have underneath yours? Like anyone can adapt this trend and do it out. You're going to have a dot pack party. Do you know what though? Also, what I want to shout out is the businesses that win when this happens. If I was in the Betty Crocker account team right now, I would be fist pumping. You'd be punching air. Yeah. I would be like, this is so good. I think Naima was saying on our whip on Friday that the lovely Paran store that Lexi bought her own cups from had sold out of their cups and were like, we don't know what's going on.

22:17Everyone keeps coming in to get these cups. Hundreds and thousands. Let me tell you, there's not a lot of fairy bread going around at kids' parties anymore. They are glad to be back in business with the dog cake. I bet they are. All right, next we're going to talk about the big business of young adult TV and the networks that are nailing it. But that's right after a word from today's sponsor. Good, I can have another bite of this. I don't know, can I have one more? Mine's actually so delicious. If there's one thing better than a holiday, it's the pre-holiday skincare and makeup shop. There's just something about stocking up on tiny bottles of all your favourite products.