This Is How Ayesha Curry Made One Very Big Beauty Dream Come True

Photo Credit: Juan Veloz

BY LAURA SCHREFFLER
PHOTOGRAPHY JUAN VELOZ
STYLING JASON REMBERT
HAIR SONIA COSEY
MAKEUP ASHLEY BIAS
SHOT ON LOCATION AT 1513 LOUELLA AVE, VENICE, CA LISTED BY JOYCE REY AND NANETTE S. IGGULDEN

What is beauty?

It’s a fair — and subjective — question to ask of our inaugural Haute Beauty cover star, Ayesha Curry. There is no one right or simple answer; there is only, in this moment, her answer, her truth. And that truth is this: beauty is everywhere, in the big and small, in the simple and complicated. It is in the memory of her mother’s hair salon, in her perfectly put together grandmother, in the words of affirmation from her husband, NBA superstar Stephen Curry, in the praise from her children, and — most of all — in herself (especially on the days that her skin isn’t acting up and she can manage the major personal feat of putting on winged liner correctly).

“I certainly think beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” the 35-year-old multi-hyphenate shares on a dreary December day from her home in the Bay Area, where she’s currently combatting the five-day stretch of rain, fog, and thunder by being her own bright light, bathing my computer screen in the vivid glow of her vibrant, cherry red Natasha Zinko jacket. “It’s transformative, shape-shifting, and truly depends on the week. Sometimes, it means being at home in sweatpants, taking care of my kids with no makeup and my skin is having a good week; I’ll feel really beautiful because my skin didn’t freak out on me. It could be something as simple as a bubble bath, a glass of wine, and a nice mask when the kids go to bed; having 30 minutes or an hour for some real self-care, which changes the entire narrative for me because I just feel more put together. Or it could be a date night, going out with my husband, where I put on a cute dress and get all glammed up with my winged liner just right, and I’m feeling myself, because that never happens.”

“But I also feel like you can find beauty in sadness, too,” she continues. “We’re at a point in our lives, my husband and I, where we’re losing a lot of our elders, and life is looking a bit different. It’s a sad but beautiful realization that nothing truly lasts forever, and so, we’re really embracing moments and loving people as much as we can while they’re here. And that, to me, just remembering those small moments, those people that you interact with and touch every day, can be beautiful.”

Photo Credit: Juan Veloz

It’s a thoughtful answer for a thoughtful person, but then, Curry also finds beauty in authenticity, in “being intrinsically who I am at any given moment.” That means loving hard, being kind, and always, always, always being true to herself. It’s served her well, and no doubt, is a contributing factor to her success, which spans a plethora of industries: she is a restaurateur, actress, television host, best-selling author, and the powerhouse behind Sweet July, an enterprise which encompasses Sweet July Productions, Sweet July Books, café-retail destinations in Oakland and Santa Monica, an engaging print and digital editorial platform, and — the reason for today’s interview — Sweet July Skin, the brand she founded in 2023.

It might have taken her 34 years to take the reins of her own beauty brand, but Curry’s brush with beauty started early in life, at her mother’s Markham, Toronto hair salon, back in her native Canada. “I would spend weekends at my mom’s salon, and on any given Saturday, she would have 10 to 12 clients. I would sit and answer the phones for her, watching clients come in and out. Oftentimes, a lot of them would come in frustrated or frazzled from whatever they were experiencing before they crossed the threshold into her basement salon… but they would leave entirely different people. And what I would notice is that my mom wasn’t only making them feel beautiful on the outside, but she was also making them feel good on the inside, too. I would watch them tell her their deepest, darkest secrets, like they were talking to a therapist, and they would leave transformed, even if only for the evening,” she recalls, noting, “And that, for me, was my earliest memory of how beauty plays a part within your human existence, and how it makes you who you are. As much as we want to say it doesn’t, it does play a part. I also think there’s truth to the saying ‘when you look good, you feel good,’ because I watched it happen on a weekly basis firsthand.”

But there were ramifications to being part of this world — a world in which one’s perfect self was the ideal self, too — what Curry refers to as “a double-edged sword.” She shares, “I started to believe that in order to be beautiful, I had to be done up. There was always this thing at home, like ‘you need to be polished.’ I’ve never seen my mother look disheveled. Even with my grandma: for as long as I can remember, she’d wake up, put on her face, and put on the perfect clothes, even if it was just to sit on the couch and watch CNN every day. Even to this day, if I walk downstairs without getting ready, she’d say, ‘You didn’t change your clothes; you didn’t put your makeup on yet.’ That, to her, is mind-blowing; it’s a foreign concept. She thinks I’m sick or something. And so, I had to unravel that as I grew up. I had to realize, hey, it’s fine to be in your sweatpants and not have anything on your face. It’s OK not to be perfect.”
These lessons may have taken her a longer time to learn, but something that was instilled right away from those days in mom Carol Alexander’s salon was her entrepreneurial spirit. “It paved the way and gave me a great example of the work it takes to make something like that myself. I like to work hard and see what sticks. I like to put my heart and soul into things, and hope that others can find inspiration in that,” she explains, noting that this was how Sweet July Skin came to be in the first place.

Photo Credit: Juan Veloz

“It was an homage to my mom and grandma and the other women in my family, as well as my Jamaican roots,” she says. “With Sweet July Skin, we really play into my culinary background, the food inspiration of Jamaica, all of the beautiful bounty — the herbs and natural fruits — that you can only get there, as well as the ocean and sunshine. We also tell the story of who I am through skin.”

Well, part of her story, anyway. For Sweet July Skin, she fully leaned into her Jamaican heritage, though she is also partially Nigerian, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Polish. “Growing up, I knew I was Jamaican, and I knew that I was some sort of Nigerian. I knew that I was Polish; I knew there was Ashkenazi blood flowing throughout me. I knew all of these things, but the core of that — what I grew up experiencing — was my Jamaican culture. In a way, I never felt like I had to put roots down because of it. And so, it was my way of planting seeds — no pun intended — and creating roots for my family in telling that story. It was almost like creating a time capsule. It helped me to form my identity, essentially. I never had an identity growing up,” she confides, sharing that, after leaving Canada at age 14 and moving to North Carolina for high school before heading west to California at 18 to try her hand at acting, she lost sight of who she was. Her brand, and what it stands for, helps. “I think later in my adulthood, just like having this beautiful skincare brand, being able to tell what that story is and tell people who I am has been really empowering for me, to say the least,” she admits.

But there were other reasons as well. “Honestly, my skin was doing so bad; I needed a solution for myself, which is first and foremost how this started,” she confesses. “My mom and grandma have great canvases, but some interesting genes came out in my other DNA strands where I got the problematic skin. I wanted to be able to take these things that they were telling me, put them into action, and see if they worked. That was the first step. Once we started to realize it worked, then we were like, ‘OK, we’re doing this’ and went full speed ahead to formulate the entire Sweet July Skin range.”

Her brand focuses on clean, simple, and effective formulas that offer a unique sensory experience akin to treating your skin to an island vacation: Caribbean superfoods that act as recipes for the skin: guava, papaya, and lychee seed-based are complemented by cutting-edge actives. The range of award-winning products include items like the Pava exfoliating cleanser, Irie power face oil, and Soursop vitamin C serum, in addition to its Pava toner, Castaway cream, and Good Youth retinol sleep serum.

Curry’s hard work has paid off: she did what she set out to do, which is create products that she herself could use, and that would make her feel confident in and about her own skin. Now that she’s stopped nursing — her fourth child, son Caius, was born in May — she’s even shooting a 30-day compilation video to promote the sleep serum, which she says tightens, refines, smooths, and resurfaces without causing breakouts or flaking, but which “eliminates everything in a radical way.” This isn’t something she would have had the self-assurance to do in the past — but Sweet July Skin has given that back to her.

“Everybody deserves to see themselves in some capacity,” she notes, “and for me, I’ve been able to gain confidence in my skin clearing up and getting better.”

And now that she’s been able to conquer a lifetime affliction, Curry is able to focus on her loftier, long-ranging goals for Sweet July Skin. “I’m just going to put this out there,” she says. “My ultimate goal — what I’ve been dreaming of since we started — is for Sweet July Skin to grow to the point where I can work with the Jamaican Agricultural Board and the tourism board to create beautiful farm spaces, and to create jobs for the people there. I want to have an agricultural school where people get to understand how things are harvested and used for skincare. I want to be able to give back. I sit here and talk about how much Jamaica means to me and how those are my roots. And I’m paying homage to my mom and grandma, but I also want to make sure that I’m giving back to the island itself. And so, figuring out what that looks like and getting to a point where we have the capacity to do that would be a dream come true.”

Photo Credit: Juan Veloz

AYESHA CURRY HAS JUST BLOWN MY MIND. Why? She’s just told me that her favorite film is Girl, Interrupted. Say what now?

For those unfamiliar, the 1999 film, courtesy of James Mangold (he who has just directed the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown), was the movie that made Angelina Jolie a bonafide star (and earned her an Oscar). It follows a young woman who spends 18 months institutionalized at a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt. It is heavy — and not what one might expect from the radiant, warm, charming, and charismatic Curry. But it serves as a reminder that one should never be taken at face value — and that this is a woman with layers.

“A big part of me loving that film is that I am obsessed with Angelina Jolie. I can’t say it enough. But I also love really moving films that make you cry and scare you a little bit. It’s such a departure from my day to day, and maybe that’s why I like it so much. It’s funny, but for my whole life, I would always get taken for that rom-com type of role. But I love the gritty content. I love having the ability to transform into something else, into another character. I’d love to do something drama heavy. I would do theater, too. My dream has always been to play Mimi in Rent.” Another surprising revelation here, given that said character is an exotic dancer, HIV positive, and a drug addict; definitely another radical case of playing against type.

We’ve been talking about her return to acting, which, as a reminder, is how her career started. That acting in general is something that interests her seems to fit; she already wears so many hats as it is, after all. “I would love to act again,” she admits, sharing, “You know, that’s how my husband met me; it was through acting.” She pauses. “Well, he didn’t meet me that way, I suppose — we met when we were little kids — but when we started dating, I was actively acting in L.A., and him, coming from North Carolina, thought that was so cool. I remember him bringing me to his college and saying, ‘This is my girlfriend; she’s an actress.’ I want him to keep feeling that way; I’ve got to keep him on his toes! And now he’s the actor guy. But he’s also my biggest supporter in that space. He’s like, ‘do it, do it!’”

Make no mistake, she already is. Via her Sweet July Productions, a burgeoning arm of her brand, she plans on creating content in the reality space, as well as scripted projects. The content she’s always searching for, however, stays true to her brand’s four core pillars: food, female empowerment, faith, and family. Most recently, she returned to her longtime passion last year by co-starring alongside Lindsay Lohan in Netflix’s Irish Wish. “I’m actively figuring [the acting thing out],” she shares, confiding, “I started acting when I was three, locally and in commercials. Other kids were doing school activities, but I was on set. And then, when I moved to the States, I stopped. I started back up at 17 and moved to L.A., but then my husband and I started dating… and life comes at you fast. But now that I’m back into it, I’d love to keep going, and we’re figuring out ways to make that happen from a production standpoint.” Photo Credit: D Baum/Sweet July Skin

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say, and her will is strong. Plus, she’s made most — if not all — of her dreams a reality, so I have no doubt that if this is what she wants, she’ll make it happen. There’s steel under her ethereal beauty, and gumption, too. Just look at her CV and you’ll see what I mean. Sweet July Skin is just the latest venture under her Sweet July umbrella — a parent company that seeks to empower and celebrate women and BIPOC creators. Let’s not forget that the Sweet July enterprise also consists of Sweet July Productions, Sweet July Skin, Sweet July Books, and Sweet July Home. Or that she’s a chef, whose accessible approach to cooking has made her one of the most sought-after experts in food and lifestyle; a restaurateur; two-time New York Times bestselling author; and a philanthropist. She, along with her husband, Stephen, is the co-founder of Eat. Learn. Play., an organization dedicated to unleashing the potential of every child and making a positive impact for generations to come.

After her beauty brand though, culinary is still her passion. She recently expanded her partnership with award-winning chef Michael Mina — with whom she founded International Smoke, a restaurant in San Francisco that celebrates the art of global grilling — expanding her Sweet July Café footprint by opening a second location at The Regent Santa Monica Beach in October. The café — also a collaboration with Mina — brings a fresh, coastal twist to her signature blend of vibrant California cuisine with Jamaican-inspired flavors (think: a Jamaican jerk chicken sandwich with mango-cabbage slaw and a decadent sundae menu that features indulgent sauces like island rum coffee caramel and coconut macaroon crumble).

“The restaurants are definitely the most joyful to work on, but I think it’s important to note that all of the things I do connect to hospitality at the core. What that comes down to is that I have hospitality at my core. I love doing things or giving people things or experiences that are going to create a memory, get the community together, and get people talking,” Curry says.

Photo Credit: D Baum/Sweet July Skin

It wasn’t always her plan — not by a long shot. The goal, from age 17, was to act — but sometimes, life takes a detour. “Nothing I’ve done was really part of a master plan at all,” she confesses. “I like to beat to my own drum, and I feel like I have a lot of different interests, a lot of different things that I love. And somehow, I’ve fallen into situations where God and the universe had made it to where I get to have these platforms and turn my passions into tangible businesses, which is so crazy. I truly love everything that I’m doing and I’m enjoying myself. I’m very grateful for it, grateful to have all these opportunities presented to me. And so, when something piques my interest or when something causes that passion to fire up, I have the mindset that I’m going to do this and I’m not going to stop until it works.”

Curry is the little red-clad engine that could, one that wakes up every day grateful (although sometimes, especially because she’s not a morning person, she has to work extra hard at it when her kids need to be taken to school). In particular, she’s grateful that she has a choice: in her projects, in her decisions, in her life. That she has been able to create the life she wanted, that she’s been able to sate her interests, that she’s found peace in her imperfections.

“My six-year-old son (Canon) will humble you real fast,” she says with a laugh. “He’s still at the phase of brutal, innocent honesty. He’s done this three times now: he’ll run in the kitchen and be like, ‘Mom, are you having another baby? Your belly looks big.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not.’ Actually, I just lost three pounds. I don’t say it to him, but in my head I’m like, Dang, you got me again!”

Curry is smiling, genuinely amused, because she knows that no matter what, even in her postpartum fog, her family has her back. We are always our own worst critics, but regardless of how she feels she looks, they all support her fully. “My girls especially make me feel beautiful,” she admits of daughters Riley, 11, and Ryan, eight. “They’re loaded with compliments, and that’s always such a cup filler-upper. My husband, too, always fills me with sweet nothings and compliments. He always makes me feel beautiful.”

She stops for a second and smiles radiantly. “I have to do a better job of learning how to receive that, actually, and I realize I am piss poor at it. I negate [his compliments] and toss them to the side. And then, if I have a meltdown or something, he’s like, ‘But I say these things all the time, and you’re always this way.’ It’s all the time. And I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s right. He does say these things all the time, and I just don’t take them for face value. I minimize them, which isn’t good. I have to do better at that.”

With that unflinching, relatable, authentic honesty that has come to define her, she continues, “And I also have to do a better job at reminding myself to be present — because sometimes, the only way for me to stay present is that reminder. I tend to be a little bit of a deep thinker. Not that everybody isn’t, but I tend to harp on things, and set personal reminders inside of my brain to make it a point to be that way. Kind of fake it ‘til you make it: I keep reminding myself until it becomes habit. I just find myself happier in those moments then. Happiness is beautiful, and beauty is happiness, whatever that looks like.”

Photo Credit: Juan Veloz