The Brains and Beauty Behind the Brand - Superficially Colorful Lacquer

May 06, 2017

Superficially Colorful Lacquer is coming to Indie Expo Canada all the way from Israel and we are so happy to have them join us. Owner and product designer Jin, won't be able to join us in person, but she is sending all of her amazing products and hopes to be able to attend in person next year.

Indie Expo Canada: How long has your company been in business? Please tell us a bit about your company, its mission, and goals.

Superficially Colourful: Superficially Colorful was born as a blog sometimes mid 2012. By then I was playing with mixing polishes together, without even knowing it was "a thing". I am from Israel and there is a very limited market of nail polish here. In 2012 there were mainly around 5 brands available, two of them are produced locally and the others were European imported brands (Ga-De, Pupa and Revlon). Boring…

So the blog was mostly my way to actually learn about more brands and how to reach them!

And with all that information came my knowledge of the indie world and frankening,

By the beginning of 2013 I already learnt about different nail polish bases and how to get them I sent my creations to friends all around, and with their encouragement I actually opened the Superficially Colorful Lacquer shop on March 2014.

After a year or so I was starting to get bored and decided to find something to make in addition to nail polish. So I took a cold process soap workshop that was so much fun and excitement for me that I had to learn more!

So since that first workshop, I finished two large courses about natural cosmetics making, mineral make up making and practical aromatherapy. So little by little I am making things and testing them, and if I am actually happy enough – I add them to my shop.

However, shipping those things overseas is not an easy task, and it made me realize that I have to turn to my local market as well. But Superficially Colorful in Hebrew is very long, clumsy and… well, it doesn't go as nice on the tongue as it is in English, and I needed to find a different name.

So now in Hebrew I am "Ketsef" – the Hebrew word for bath foam, and it is a completely separate shop. In the last month or so, I was finally able to start working on a dual language shop so I do hope that by the end of 2017 I will be able to have only one shop that will have both SCL and Ketsef under the same online roof.

My main goal is to bring new and interesting and a little bit different nail polishes to the local market, and well as mineral make up and natural quality products with no toxins and bad chemicals, and to be able to interest the rest of the world with some nice handmade products, using mostly local materials.

All my nail polish are 7Free (the do not include any of the following: DBP or Dibutyl Phthalate, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, Toluene, Camphor, Xylene or Parabens and they are Gluten free and Vegan) and all products are completely cruelty free and are never tested on animals, nor do any of the raw materials I use. At the moment I still have very few products that are made with bees wax or goats milk powder, but as they will become out of stock, both my shops will also be 100% Vegan!

Indie Expo Canada: What is your workspace like? Do you have any employees? Do you have plans to expand in the future?

Superficially Colourful: My workspace is mostly a big mess. It is my computer room and I like to have everything on the desk so I can see it all. So there is not much desk left to see among my bottles and boxes of material. But I like it. Small and cozy.

I have no employees. I am a one person's brand. I don't really want that to change drastically any time soon, but I do wish I could find someone who will do some social media promotions for me because this is the thing I like the least, but I need it.

Indie Expo Canada: What is your favourite nail polish finish?

Superficially Colourful: Holo. Preferable scattered.

Indie Expo Canada: What is your favourite type of nail art?

Superficially Colourful: To do or to see? It's not the same you know 😉

I love to see watermarbles and dry marbles mostly. But I can't do them properly.

To do I like either stencil things or freehand. I'm not good at any, but I enjoy the therapy they give me. Sadly I do have to admit I haven't done any nail art in a while.

Indie Expo Canada: What are your favourite scents?

Superficially Colourful: Fresh and windy scents with hints of flowers and mixed fruit. But when it comes to soaps and general cosmetics, there are just way too many different scents that I love. I can't pick just one.

Indie Expo Canada: Is SCLacquer a full time job, or do you have another job as well?

Superficially Colourful: While I really wish it could be a full time job, sadly it is not.

I work a full time job as an internet programmer for a big local bank. I have been working there for the last 17 years and I think I am hoping to complete another 15 and then retire.

It is very hard, almost impossible to make a decent living off a small business here, due to so many restrictions and laws. I am not able to sell my products in physical stores and there are many, many other issues that are forcing me to admit that I cannot leave my day job.

Indie Expo Canada: Tell us about you. What other hobbies, talents, or passions do you have? What do you do in your spare time?

Superficially Colourful: Nothing much to tell about me, mostly because I tend to change my interests too often to follow. So if I write anything interesting now, most likely it will change by the time the IEC actually begins.

Other things I enjoy doing when I am not mixing anything is reading – only digital books now and only fantasies (because there is too much drama in real life. I prefer my books to have something else in them), movies – either comedies or fantasies but not horror of any kind!!!

I like (and I studied years ago) photography, although currently I use it mostly as a way to make my products visible… and I really enjoy playing with Photoshop. Quite a few years ago I used to have a business for old photography restoration. I did several works I was very proud of. But I learnt that this type of business is not right for me, for two main reasons:

1. Interacting with people face to face is very hard for me, but it's required in that type of work

2. I am too perfectionist to be able to do this type of thing in a reasonable amount of time.

Indie Expo Canada: Is there anything about you that people would be surprised to know?

Superficially Colourful: I doubt that. I'm pretty open and easy to ready, albeit an introvert. Most of my filters are ruined so if I think something, it usually just comes out as is.

Indie Expo Canada: What is your current best selling product?

Superficially Colourful: On the SCL site, it's Ghouls Night Out and Witch You Were Here, from last year's Halloween collection, which I decided to keep in stock due to the interest.

On my local site Ketsef – it's my natural sodium bicarbonate free Deodorant.