Nicolandria Nation has officially risen ✨ From the Soul Ties Kiss to the viral NYX lip combo, Nicolas + Olandria turned Love Island USA into a pop culture moment. With millions of new followers, brand collabs flying in, and a NYFW debut that had them styled to perfection, Nicolandria isn’t just a couple—they’re the culture. And they’re only just getting started.
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The magic of love came alive this summer on our screens through Nicolandria, a couple comprised of Nicolas Vasteenberghe and Olandria Carthen. The two had a push-and-pull start to their relationship in the villa, sparking conversations and an on-screen renaissance of the Friends-to-Lovers trope. Book lovers and hopeless romantics everywhere fell in love with Nic and Olandria long before they knew what they’d mean to each other, and the best part is, our parlay actually hit. Coming off the back of the show, Nicolandria is quite literally everywhere. Billboards, watch parties, and sports teams' social media pages are rife with references to the cultural phenomenon this one ship inspired. I personally have never seen this much uproar for a reality TV couple, but I can’t say I’m surprised. The main pioneers the ship, however, were the D1 sleuths dedicating time and effort into finding ‘crumbs’ in every interaction; we have ‘Come On Cream’ a throwaway saying from episode one that inspired THE Nicolandria community on twitter with over 50K members, the infamous Soul Ties vs. Congratulations kiss debate, and lip combo gate, the latter of which jumped off the screen and into the capable hands of the NYX marketing team, who suited up in collaboration with Nic and Olandria to bring us: The Nxyolandria Lip Combo.
The sleuths over on TikTok and X captured several moments during Nic and Olandria’s first coupling in episode 21, in which Nic seemingly kept Olandria’s lip combo in his pocket. After their kiss in Soul Ties, he pulled it out of his pants pocket so she could reapply. It was also a running joke that he’d wear it more than she did, given the jarring contrast between his skin tone and the dark brown liner every time they kissed. Olandria herself confirmed that he did, in fact, keep her combo in his pockets, and since there’s no gatekeeping over here, here’s a step-by-step guide:
Before the collab even dropped, fans were filming themselves in Sephora on the hunt for the lip combo, so it’s only natural then, that the official promotion included the kissing king and queen themselves. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it’s a swoon-worthy concept to market a lip combo, don’t you think?
Nyx’s collab came with loved-up kisses and cutesy polaroids, but since Nic and Olandria left the villa, they’ve been featured in two more collabs that, dare I say, are working hard to claim their spot as the best Nicolandria collab.
First up, we had Kulani’s Kinis, who had a long-standing relationship with Nic before he stepped into the villa. They recently released a ‘Nic edit’ which features swimwear chosen especially by Nic, some of which he wore in the villa, and who better to pose on his arm as the model for the women’s line? Well, Motherlandria, of course. The shoot captured the couple loved-up against ocean front views in Greece, wrapped in each other’s arms. A baecation for the books.
Next was Agua De Kefir, another brand Nic has previously worked for. The concept for their campaign leaned towards a sexy, colourful and kitchsy series of content that dubbed the brand “Agua De Freaky” for their dedication to showcasing this gut-healthy sparkling water in the campiest, most freaked-out manner.
Both brands championed Nicolandria from the start, and the outcome was campaigns that understood the allure the couple had, whilst fostering widespread community upheaval with the range of cute, gorgeous, and sexy moments that have the fans fed for weeks. But that’s not all, of course. It’s only been a month since the show ended, but the possibilities for future brand collaborations for Nic and Olandria, both as a couple and individual brand names, are endless, if their social impact is anything to go off of.
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There is a wonderful rarity in having a fan base that champions you. Nicolandria, before they even knew they were called that, have built up fan bases all over the world because of their love story in and out of the villa.
Nic already had a social media presence before the show, with his TikTok sitting at approximately 175K, and post-villa, he now sits at 2.3M followers with over 20M likes. Olandria started the show with less than 50k followers on both Instagram and TikTok, and is now sitting at 2.1M on Instagram and 1.4M on TikTok. Her social growth is especially fascinating because it is exponentially above creator medians, considering how native her engagement is. Olandria’s Instagram identity as the #BamaBarbie is central to her virality and brand-fit for beauty/fashion sponsorships; the post villa press-run styling content performed incredibly well, plus the frequent amplification of the couple via national shows and entertainment outlets like TODAY, Bravo WWHL, Teen Vogue, Essence, and the co-signs from celebrities like Angel Reese and Chloe Bailey keeps their names in circulation beyond native followers.
Nicolandria, as a unit, pulled in the largest audience during the show’s run with episode 21, featuring the Soul Ties Kiss, pulling in the most viewers for the entire season. Third-party edits, fan moments and celebrity co-signs set these two up for major success post-villa, and it’s clear that they’ve built up reputations that will continue to precede them.
Olandria recently changed her social handles to just “Olandria”, which, as we know, heralds the beginning of a star. From Beyonce to Zendaya, some might say Olandria has the magnetism to join the greats, and she’s starting strong with her appearance at NYFW this September. I did a not-so-thorough breakdown of Olandria’s looks during this week, and something I took away from the whole moment was that her glam team had to be divinely chosen for her because the synergy between Painted by Esther’s blushy™ doll beat and The Reismans Barbie by day/ New York socialite by night outfit concepts was amazing. And, let’s not forget about how well Nic’s country club by day/kingpin by night looks harmonised very well with Olandria. The couple complemented each other across every look, which speaks to the magic of a good-looking couple and a powerful team. Nicolandria’s New York run was one for the books, and can you imagine? They’re barely getting started.
Thankfully, Nicolandria Nation is chock-full of talented designers, writers, and creatives who see the vision for brand domination between these two. Between fans spurring on potential collaborations with huge names like Calvin Klein, Skims, Savage X Fenty and Barbie, and coverage from some of the biggest fashion and beauty publications in the industry, the onus now is on these brands to see the vision. All they have to do is walk with us.
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