Some old Chinese cosmetics brands that have been overshadowed by big foreign names and even faded from stores are enjoying a resurgence among young Chinese, the Beijing Evening News reported on Thursday.

A great deal of netizens, most of whom are young, computer-savvy people born in the 1980s, have recently expressed their delight in trying out old cosmetics brands. In online forums, they often claim that these brands are user-friendly and competitively priced, the newspaper said.

Young girls have now found a new way to take care of their skin by using a mixture of Western and traditional Chinese cosmetics to achieve the best effect.

"The moistening effect is great when you use the Phoenix glycerol and foundation make-up at the same time," one netizen wrote online.

While another said, "Vaseline and Vitamin E capsules make a perfect skin-care mask that anybody can use and has no side effects."

Young girls make up the large consumer group of famous luxury cosmetic products in China. Recently they have also been tucking old brands into their makeup kits, such as Shanghai-based Pehchaolin, a cream that dates back to the 1940s, and ordinary Vaseline. These brands often cost no more than 10 yuan.

Despite growing popularity, it is still difficult to find these older brands on the shelves of shopping malls in big cities. In general, old cosmetics brands are sold with lower profit margins. Meanwhile, heavy fees for "admission" into supermarkets or shopping centers have kept them out, which has caused their market to shrink. However, the online market for these classic brands is booming as their low prices have proven to be a sizeable advantage over foreign brands, which may cost several hundred or thousand yuan.

Some older Chinese brands are also gaining favor in overseas markets.

One domestic cosmetics dealer with high credit on Taobao.com, already China's largest e-commerce marketplace, told the paper that Shanghai-brand sandalwood soap, though not very popular in China, is hot in Europe as it is made purely of plants.

(CRI.cn November 2, 2007)