POLICE FILES: How Deborah Lippmann’s glitter proved that I have the sweetest brother in the world

This isn’t something I mention on my blog often since he usually exists outside of my nail polish bubble but I have a brother. Powie (I gave him that nickname when he was a baby – his real name’s Patrick Andrew, the perfect match to my Pamela Angela) is five years younger than me but people in our university used to think we were twins. He’s awesome. Funny. Crazy. And, as this post will show you, incredibly sweet.

We have a funny relationship – we like annoying each other (we haven’t and probably never will outgrow that) but you can’t deny the deep affection that’s there.

When it comes to most things – including birthdays, Christmas and gifts – my brother and I are very open with one another. I already know what he wants for his birthday even if it’s still three months away – I know because he told me. And when he asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, I told him. Polish from Deborah Lippmann.

Rustan’s has new stocks, I told him, and I told him exactly which shades I still didn’t have. I was really excited to see which one he’d choose. And, I said, I wanted a nice note with my gift.

I wasn’t expecting anyone else to give me polish on my birthday (although Jill did). I totally understand when friends talk about how hard it is to figure out which shades I still don’t have – I do have a pretty big collection. But some people still did.

Thank you, everyone from Perceptions.

And thank you, everyone from Bridges.

So sweet. I can’t wait to play with these new babies.

Powie is a musician and he had a gig on the night of my birthday so he arrived at my birthday dinner really late – a few minutes after midnight.

When he arrived, he handed me a bag from Rustan’s.

And this was inside the bag.

“Where’s the note?” I asked him.

And when I turned the gift over, I saw this.

And I was happy he still wrote a note because he said he already posted his greeting on my Facebook wall.

Like me, my brother has terrible handwriting. But his handwriting on this card was extra terrible.

Then I found out why. The freak wrote it while he was driving. Driving. He’s crazy.

Then he said he was sorry, that he didn’t find the polish, that he just got me Angel’s Breath cologne instead.

I didn’t believe him.

When I got home and opened my presents, I saved his for last.

Such suspense.

And when I saw them, I broke into a huge grin. So huge my mouth began to hurt.

He didn’t just get me one bottle – he got me two.

Some Enchanted Evening and Boom Boom Pow.

I kinda thought Powie would choose Boom Boom Pow because of his name. His friends do call him Pow. But I wanted to know exactly why he chose the bottles he did. So I texted him.

And, at 7 in the morning, he gave me a very long very satisfying answer via text message. (Mouseover for the full English translation.)

“Ang wala lang dun sa mga binanggit mo was Yellow Brick Road. Ang final 3 choices ko was iyang 2 and Purple Rain. Tapos sure na ako dun sa Some Enchanted kasi pinahabol mo lang un e. Sabi mo “Ooh and Some Enchanted Evening.” So I thought there must be something about it that made it ooh-able and ooh-worthy. Tapos para sa’ken Purple Rain doesn’t have the best shade of purple, I’m sure may mas okay pa dun. And fave color mo un eh, so baka marami ka nang ganung kulay. (Or baka rin semi-subconsciously I’m rationalizing para piliin ko yung may “Pow” ang pangalan. Hehe.) But definitely may kinalaman ung name ko dun. And I thought even if they’re both glittery, ano naman ngayon because sometimes more is still more, duh, that’s why it’s called more, di ba? Ayun lang. Thank you. Bow. Haha.”

I got a kick out of imagining him standing in the middle of Rustan’s, staring at the Lippmann display. I love that he put so much thought into choosing which polish to get.

It reminds me of the time he was 18 and I was 23 and I asked him to choose my nail color. This is an excerpt from my blog post from eight years ago, which I called “He’s straight but he’s a girl”:

I painted each nail a different color, while my brother splattered on black polish on his right hand. I narrowed my choices down to three different shades of pink. I turned to him for help.

“Which shade is the nicest?”

He examined my nails carefully and finally chose OPI’s Not So Bora-Bora-ing Pink, ruling out OPI’s Jewel of India and Cover Girl’s Silver Plum.

Knowing that the manicurist was coming in later that day to save him from the horrors I was about to inflict on his fingers, he let me put pink nail polish on his left hand.

Then we discussed the merits of a single and a double coat.

Yes, my brother rocks.

And now that I think about it, I was wrong in saying that he exists outside of my nail polish bubble.

Because he wears black nail polish.

And he wants to wear Chanel Blue Satin because blue is his favorite color.

And he bought Essie Matte About You for me when he was in the US.

And he willingly and successfully transferred my Helmer and all its contents from one house to another – and not a single bottle broke.

Again, my brother rocks.

Music is my brother’s life. We used to be in a band together – now he’s part of a couple of other bands. He’s been a drummer since he was in grade school and he also sings, plays the guitar and keyboards. I told him that it was perfect that he got me bottles of Lippmann. I said, “Deborah Lippmann is a jazz singer and her polish shades are named after songs.”

He said, “Ooooh. Interesting.”

Yes, Powie, it’s not just her polish that’s ooh-able, Deborah Lippmann herself is ooh-worthy.

Thank you for the gift. And the sweetness. You rocked my birthday with your gift of glitter. But promise me you’ll never ever write a note while driving again.