Enigma Jewellery Online · Care
How to care for your jewellery
Silver jewellery darkens over time through a natural process known as tarnishing. How quickly this happens depends on individual factors, including your skin chemistry and the environment in which you wear your jewellery.
01What is tarnishing?
Tarnishing is a chemical process that makes silver look dull, grey and sometimes even black. It does not destroy the metal; the resulting layer may even protect its surface.
Causes
Silver tarnishes when it reacts with sulphur compounds in the air, forming silver sulphide. This black compound gives silver its dull, dark appearance.
↑ Back to menu02How to slow down tarnishing
Although you cannot prevent tarnishing entirely, you can slow it down by:
- storing silver in airtight packaging, such as resealable bags;
- keeping humidity low, for example with silica gel sachets;
- wiping your jewellery with a soft cloth after each wear;
- taking silver jewellery off before washing dishes, bathing or cooking.
03How to remove tarnish
Many jewellery care products help remove tarnish. However, our designs are deliberately oxidised and polishedto create contrast between dark backgrounds and bright, polished raised details. This means not every cleaner is suitable for them.
Polishing cloths
Ideal for removing light tarnish. They leave the deliberately applied dark finish in the recessed areas of our designs intact, making them by far the best option for cleaning pieces purchased from Enigma.
Liquid cleaners
These quickly remove tarnish through a chemical action but do not prevent it from returning. They also remove some or all of the dark finish that gives our designs their contrast, leaving the entire piece bright. Using a liquid cleaner removes the characteristic oxidised finish of our designs, so we advise against this cleaning method. It is suitable only for chains without an oxidised finish.
Polishing creams
These take longer to use but contain R-22, an ingredient that slows tarnishing. This is not a home treatment — for proper polishing, take your jewellery to a local jeweller or send it to us for refurbishment.
↑ Back to menu04Refurbishment at Enigma
Even heavily tarnished jewellery can be restored to an almost-new appearance, apart from scratches and surface damage. If cleaning it yourself is difficult, we offer a refurbishment service.
Refurbishment cost: 50 PLN plus postage. Write to us before sending your jewellery — we will confirm the scope of the work and the timeframe.