diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libhandy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libhandy/default.nix
index 1c50a28f0a4..9fb0b776e6f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libhandy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libhandy/default.nix
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   doCheck = true;
 
   checkPhase = ''
-    export NO_AT_BRIDGE=1
+    NO_AT_BRIDGE=1 \
+    XDG_DATA_DIRS="$XDG_DATA_DIRS:${hicolor-icon-theme}/share" \
     xvfb-run -s '-screen 0 800x600x24' dbus-run-session \
       --config-file=${dbus.daemon}/share/dbus-1/session.conf \
       meson test --print-errorlogs