Chescaleigh’s #OscarSoWhite Nail Tutorial Takes On Hollywood’s Lack of Diversity

February 11, 2016 / Franchesca Ramsey

“Who knew beige could be so diverse?!”

Once again, #OscarsSoWhite is trending to push back against the Academy Awards’ striking lack of diversity. Here’s Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey with a creative video that paints a perfect picture of why this is such a problem.

As she uses nail polishes to represent disappointments like the non-existent women in the Best Directory category, the Academy’s love of cisgender men playing transgender women, and the twenty all-white acting nominees, her point comes across brilliantly.

And when her choice of top coat demonstrates that “Hollywood needs to do better,” she really seals the deal. The final result may be dull, but we couldn’t agree more with how well it reflects the Academy Awards.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

Hey, friends! So this week the 2016 Oscar nominees were announced. And I decided to do a nail tutorial inspired by the talented men and women who are vying for a shot at Hollywood’s most prestigious honor.

My first look is inspired by the incredible women nominated for Best Director this year. I’m using clear because clearly women just aren’t good directors. That’s why there’s only been one female winner in the Academy’s 88-year history. I’m just going to lay it on real thick – kind of like the excuses that are used to justify why women are not being nominated in this category.

So this next look is inspired by the men and women honored in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories. Now, this year I’m not using any black or brown hues. Because we don’t have any people of color portraying slaves or women of color being abused or playing stereotypical, subservient roles. If only Creed had been a slave movie, maybe Michael B. Jordan could have stood a chance.

Instead, we’re going for a look that I like to call “ombre beige.” First, let’s start with the best supporting actress nominees. Rachel McAdams, Spotlight. Rooney Mara, Carol. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight. Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. Who knew beige could be so diverse?

And the top coat is going to be the Best Actress nominees. Brie Larson, The Room. Cate Blanchet, Carol. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn. Jennifer Lawrence, Joy. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years. Now, since this nail represents Jennifer Lawrence, I went with a really quirky color that just always keeps it real and speaks her mind. I’m also going to add a little bit of gold sparkle because she’s probably going to win.

And for my left hand, once again, the base coat is gonna be Best Supporting Actors. Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight. Sylvester Stallone, Creed. Tom Hardy, The Revenant. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies. Christian Bale, The Big Short.

And the top coat is the Best Actor nominees. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs. Bryan Cranston, Trumbo. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl. Matt Damon, The Martian. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant. Not quite sure who to add gold for, but I’m going to say Eddie Redmayne because the Academy loves it when cis dudes play trans women.

And I’m going to finish this look off with a top coat of clear because clearly, Hollywood needs to do better. So this is the finished look. As you can see, it’s both traditional, predictable, safe, and yet grossly disappointing. If you were looking for diversity and representation this year, you are sorely out of luck. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that people of color and women continue to be underrepresented at the Oscars – or maybe it’s the result of the almost 7,000-member Academy being 94% white and 77% male.

The world may never know.

Make sure to join me next week for my nail tutorial inspired by the film, Gods of Egypt, where we learn a technique I like to call whitewashing. Don’t forget to subscribe, and I will see you when I see you. Bye!

When I’m not making videos on this channel, you can find me all over the Internet. I host a weekly series for MTV News called Decoded, and I most recently did a collaboration with Refinery29 called The Naked Truth. You can click on screen to check out those videos or in the video description box below.

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Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey is a graphic designer and video blogger based out of New York City. With over 100k subscribers on her two YouTube channels, Chescaleigh and Chescalocs she and her videos have been featured on numerous style and entertainment blogs and news publications including MTV, The New York Times, Essence.com, and The BBC. In January 2012, Franchesca had her first viral video “Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls” which accumulated 1.5 million views in 24 hours, 6 million views in a week and over 9 million views to date. Follow her on Twitter @chescaleigh.