BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Put on lipstick that shares the same shade with the red wall of the 600-year-old Forbidden City -- China's beauty-craze ladies have a new but very traditional addition on their dressing tables lately.
Two online souvenir shops attached to the Palace Museum both launched new collections of cosmetics inspired by the museum's rich collections this week.
"Gugongtaobao," one of the shops, launched a set of lipstick, eyeshadow, and rouge Tuesday, drawing on elements from the collections, such as a set of four silk embroidered crane screens with lacquer frames, a black lacquer arhat bed inlaid with mother pearl and a kingfisher feathered head ornament.
The best-selling product was the lipstick from the "Red-crowned Crane" series, which sold more than 13,000 units on its opening day on e-commerce platform Taobao, according to Gugongtaobao.
The pinky orange color of the rouge from the same series was borrowed from the color of a cloisonne enamel rectangular flowerpot with a hundred-treasure plant, while the case of a highlighting powder was based on a painting named "Wave" by Ma Yuan in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127-1279).
"I think this is a very cool thing for the Chinese fashion industry, as well as a unique revival of Chinese traditional culture," said Jiang Xinyue, a postgraduate student currently studying at Stanford University's Center for East Asian Studies.
On Sunday, the Palace Museum Cultural and Creative Store, the other shop, also released its own cosmetics products that paid tribute to the cultural heritage collection. The cases of lipsticks in six shades were inspired by embroideries on dresses of empresses and imperial concubines from the Qing Dynasties (1644-1911).
"Beautiful! I'm purchasing them not just to use them, but also to collect them because they are so beautiful," said a microblog Sina Weibo user named "Yiranxiong."
