Shades by Niko

About Shades by Niko

Shades by Niko is a British vegan sweet brand created by YouTuber and content creator Niko Omilana, launched in May 2025. The brand is named after Niko's signature children's sunglasses, which became part of his public persona during his 2021 London mayoral campaign. The sweets themselves are shaped like sunglasses in a deliberate visual nod to that campaign. The brand launched into Sainsbury's, Co-op, WH Smith Travel and Booker through wholesale partner Hancocks, and has since expanded into specialist sweet retail.

Niko's audience skews predominantly Gen Z and male (around 90% male per The Grocer's launch coverage), and the brand has been built specifically to serve a sweet-buying demographic that's been underserved by traditional confectionery: viewers who keep Halal, who eat vegan, who avoid gluten, or who simply want a less-cynical sweet brand than the legacy options. The product has held its momentum well past the typical influencer-launch cycle, which is unusual for celebrity sweet brands.

The four-way dietary credentials

This is the strongest reason to buy Shades by Niko, and the reason the brand has built genuine staying power rather than just initial influencer-driven demand. The recipe is simultaneously:

• Halal certified: no pork-derived ingredients, no alcohol, no animal-derived emulsifiers
• Vegan: no gelatine, no dairy, no honey, no insect-derived colours
• Gluten-free: no wheat, barley or rye in the recipe
• Dairy-free: no milk-derived ingredients

UK sweet brands that hit all four of these certifications at once are genuinely rare. Most "vegan" brands aren't formally Halal certified. Most Halal sweets contain dairy or aren't vegan. Most gluten-free sweets aren't vegan or Halal. Shades by Niko is one of the cleanest options in the category for shoppers who need to satisfy multiple dietary requirements at once, and the recipe achieves this without the artificial colours, flavours or emulsifiers that typically prop up dietary-restricted confectionery.

For colour, the brand uses real fruit and plant concentrates: black carrot, radish, apple, sweet potato, blackcurrant and spirulina. This is unusual at this price point and is part of what gives the sweets their distinctive bright-but-natural appearance compared to standard supermarket gummies.

The four flavours we stock

All four are 150g sealed bags at £1.99. Each pack contains sunglasses-shaped foam-jelly sweets, soft and chewy texture, made by the same factory partner across the range so the texture is consistent flavour-to-flavour.

Ingredients and allergens

Standard ingredient list for The Originals 150g, taken from the back of the bag:

Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Modified Starch, Dextrose, Acids (Malic Acid, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid), Potato Protein, Colouring Fruit and Plant Concentrates (Black Carrot, Radish, Apple, Sweet Potato, Blackcurrant), Natural Flavourings, Acidity Regulator (Calcium Carbonate), Colouring Spirulina Concentrate, Glazing Agent (Carnauba Wax).

Allergen warning: may contain traces of milk due to shared facility production, although milk is not a direct ingredient. The recipe is otherwise free from the major UK allergens (no wheat, no eggs, no nuts, no soya, no sesame as direct ingredients). Always check the back of the individual bag for the most current allergen and dietary information.

None of the colours used in the Shades by Niko recipe trigger the UK hyperactivity warning, because the brand uses real fruit and plant concentrates rather than the synthetic E102, E110 and E129 colours that appear in most American imported confectionery. This is a genuine clean-ingredient advantage compared to brands like Nerds or Sour Patch Kids Extreme.

Who Shades by Niko is for

Halal households needing vegan or vegetarian sweet options: the chewy candy aisle is a tricky place to shop if you need both Halal and vegan. Most Halal sweets contain dairy. Most vegan sweets aren't Halal certified. Shades is one of very few brands that hits both at once.

Coeliac and gluten-avoidant shoppers: the recipe is gluten-free as a core formulation, and the natural ingredient base means there's no compromise on taste compared to standard supermarket gummies.

Niko Omilana's audience: if you've watched Niko's content on YouTube and want to support the brand, this is the original product range. The brand has held genuine momentum past the initial launch cycle, which is unusual for influencer confectionery.

Parents looking for cleaner-ingredient sweets: the colours come from real fruit and plant concentrates rather than the synthetic E-numbers that trigger UK hyperactivity warnings. For parents who actively avoid those colours, Shades is a meaningful upgrade on standard gummy options.

Pick-and-mix builders: works alongside Sour Patch Kids (also gelatine-free) and Biscella mini biscuits (Halal certified) for a genuinely vegan-and-Halal-friendly selection. Most of our other American imports contain gelatine or non-Halal ingredients, which the FAQ flags clearly.

Buy Shades by Niko sweets online in the UK

All four flavours are stocked in the standard 150g bag format at £1.99 per bag. Build the basket past £20 across our snacks range for free UK delivery, ten bags is £19.90, so add anything else from the snacks collection to push the basket over and qualify. Orders placed before our daily cut-off ship the same working day. The brand has occasional supermarket distribution at Sainsbury's, Co-op and WH Smith Travel, but the Sour Ultimate Vibes flavour in particular is rarely on supermarket shelves.