Olandria Carthen Is Our 2025 Beauty Of The Year

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In a room full of faces, be an Olandria Carthen.

A star was born the moment Olandria Carthen was born and it magnified when she graced our screens on season seven of “Love Island.” The self-proclaimed “Bama Barbie” brought authenticity, beauty, brains and bawdy to the popular reality TV series wrapped in a melanated mahogany package. Olandria hasn’t slowed down since becoming a standout on that season and that includes, walking at NYFW, covering Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, Glamour Mag and her highly-publicized relationship with Nic Vansteenberghe and multiple brand deals. From SheaMoisture to Aveeno, Vaseline, Amika, EOS, Shark Beauty, Reebok, NYX (just to name a few), she has become the trusted face of brands Black women love.

Beauty Of The Year

Olandria wasn’t just in the front row at NYFW, this year, she made her runway debut in Sergio Hudson’s show. It was just the beginning for the Bama Barbie, who spread her fashion wings when she covered Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam in a stunning spread by Stanlo Photography. Tweeting about the cover, she posted, “I’m so emotional rn all in 4 months!! I’m so proud damn proud of myself. Y’alls support means so much to me I don’t think yall understand!!”

Reflecting on a previous 2024 tweet, she wrote,

Beauty With Brains

Sure, Olandria Carthen is our beauty of the year because she’s an undeniable baddie, but she also stands for something. When her costar Huda Mustafa and her boyfriend Louis Russell were caught on a livestream laughing at a racial slur, she took to social media to encourage her fans to donate to organizations “dedicated to educating and uplifting” the Black community, including UNCF, NAACP, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. (Cosmopolitan)

We’d expect nothing else from the Tuskegee University alum. The first-generation graduate walked across the stage in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management. In a conversation with Her Campus: The Butterfly Tour, the reality TV star, who had high grades, opened up about not being afraid to ask for financial help. “I would reach out to local people in my city,” for unclaimed scholarship money, she explained. “I would go into the financial aid office so much, they would literally start finding extra scholarships around unclaimed that students didn’t know about.” She added, “So if you want it, go get it.”

“It Girl”

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On December 28, Wikipedia added Olandria to their “it girl” page as the definition of a 2020s icon. And she made Revolt’s Top 26 best dressed list.

Olandria is currently on the holiday cover of Glamour Magazine with her beau, capping off what has been an amazing year for the 27-year-old personality. The cover story, dubbed “The Year of Nicolandria,” lets fans deeper into the southern beauty’s rise to fame after “Love Island.”

“Once I got a manager—it was like a month or so after the villa—some of the brand deals that had reached out to me passed because I took too long. That stressed me out—like, if I would’ve moved faster… But it’s like, No, it’s okay. They passed this time. I took too long. But they’ll come back around.”

If you want to keep up with Olandria outside of social media, she recently launched a Youtube page. Keep scrolling for more Olandria moments, below:

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Olandria Carthen is seen on September 10, 2025 in New York City. 

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Olandria Carthen is seen on September 12, 2025 during New York Fashion Week in New York City.

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Olandria Carthen walks the runway at the Sergio Hudson Fashion Show during September 2025 New York Fashion Week on September 12, 2025 in New York City. 

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Olandria Carthen at the Alexander Wang fashion show as part of Spring/Summer 2026 New York Fashion Week on September 12, 2025 in New York, New York. 

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Olandria Carthen attends the InStyle Imagemaker Awards 2025 at a Private Residence on October 23, 2025 in Bel Air, California. 

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Olandria Carthen attends the InStyle Imagemaker Awards 2025 at a Private Residence on October 23, 2025 in Bel Air, California. 

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Olandria Carthen attends the “Legend In My Hood” album release presented by Culture Jam and Anthony Edwards at Lucky Strike LA Live on October 24, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

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Olandria Carthen attends the 2025 CFDA Awards at The American Museum of Natural History on November 03, 2025 in New York City. 

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Olandria Carthen attends the 2025 Glamour Women Of The Year Awards at The Plaza Hotel on November 04, 2025 in New York City. 

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Olandria Carthen is seen on November 5, 2025 in New York City. 

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Olandria Carthen attends the 2025 Give Her FlowHERS Awards Gala presented by Femme It Forward at The Beverly Hilton on November 21, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.