Olandria Carthen has a new title to add to her fast growing resume: campaign star for Pandora's collaboration with Pat McGrath, the makeup artist widely credited with shaping the look of modern runway beauty. The collection takes McGrath's maximalist, beauty obsessed aesthetic and translates it into jewelry, with lipstick charms, lip motifs, and heart shapes standing in for the glitter and pigment she is known for on a face.
A friendship that turned into a campaign
Carthen and McGrath met roughly a year ago, and the chemistry between them was apparently obvious enough that fans online began asking for a collaboration before one was ever announced. When Carthen's team eventually told her she would be working with McGrath on the Pandora release, she described the moment as surreal, saying it almost felt like a dream come true.
What it was like on set
In conversation about the shoot, Carthen pointed to how collaborative McGrath was behind the scenes, noting that it did not take long before she felt comfortable enough to speak up and offer her own ideas rather than simply following direction. That kind of openness from an artist of McGrath's stature is not a given, and Carthen framed it as one of the most memorable parts of working on the campaign.
Beyond the campaign
The launch has also come with a real world moment for fans, including a pop up tied to the collection at Macy's flagship Herald Square store in New York. For Carthen, whose public profile has grown rapidly since her time on Love Island USA, fronting a major beauty adjacent jewelry campaign alongside one of the industry's most respected names marks a clear step further into fashion and beauty, territory she has been edging toward for a while.
