From limited run Frappucino’s to breakfast cereal to e-cig vapor juice to the frightening My Little Pony fan boys known as Bronie’s, it’s undeniable how prevalent the unicorn is in our society today. As fun as all of that stuff is, none of it really matters that much to me, but when the uni steps into the ice cream world it officially becomes skillet business. Building off of the relentless hype of the rainbow horse, Target’s Market Pantry brand have delivered Unicorn Magic, which combines a pink fruity ice cream with a sour blue raspberry swirl, frosting swirl, and glitter candy bits.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Market Pantry kind of nailed this weird ass flavor. The pink fruity base is no doubt a light ice cream that favors fluffiness over density with a sweet fruitiness that falls somewhere between blueberry and raspberry. There’s none of that cloying artificial strawberry or medicinal cherry, and for what it is it’s actually pretty pleasant. While the texture of light ice cream isn’t always ideal, it’s actually kind of fun in this context in that it reminds me of chomping on clouds, like cotton candy. The overall profile of the ice cream also harkens back to those awesome cherry-ish flavored ice cream bars from the ice cream truck stylized like Mario or Spongebob with little gumball eyes – you know what I’m talking about and those were awesome when I was ten.

The sour blue raspberry swirl is great and is actually legitimately sour. It reminds me of a good but less effective version of the swirl in Baskin Robbins’ Sour Patch Kids Red Berry Blast, which I scooped multiple times when it was featured in April 2016. The swirl integrates itself into the base but also pops up in big chunks with a magic shell kind of smooth texture. Working in tandem with the sour ribbon are the glitter candy bits, which don’t add a ton to the overall experience but add a little bit of crunchy fun like Pop Rocks without all the extra bang.

The frosting swirl is fine, but it doesn’t taste or feel like frosting at all. It is much more like a thin marshmallow with its white sticky sweetness against the more prominent and effective blue raspberry. It adds another layer of texture but isn’t as delicious as the ‘mallow swirls in Ben & Jerry’s pints and is of course a very far cry from something that a craft brand like Salt & Straw produces.

There is no doubt that Unicorn Magic is a novelty product, but it’s a damn fine novelty that’s actually fun to eat. The flavors are odd but work well together and are a magical diversion from my usual preference of peanuts, caramel, and chocolate.

Rating: 8/10

Found at: Target ($2.99)