Review: Kleancolor Femme Lipstick in After Hours (Navy Blue)

Purchased by Me 

I know that a lot of us are anxious for the release of the NYX Macaron Collection of colored lipsticks this year but if you aren't already aware, there's another affordable line of boldly-colored lipsticks already on the market by Kleancolor (retail: $1.99 each).  Last year, Kleancolor introduced some very bold shades into their Femme Lipstick line, including olive green, lime, kelly green, several blues, gray, bright yellow and more. You can view some nice photos of all of these shades over at the 10dollarmall website here.

I finally saw a full display of the Femme Lipsticks at Diaso, a chain of Japanese dollar stores, a little while ago (many thanks to some kind readers on Instagram for letting me know that a Daiso opened up in San Diego recently) and the navy blue shade came home with me. Now that I've had some time to play around with this one, here are my thoughts!

Kleancolor Femme Lisptick in After Hours

(retail: $1.99, 0.12 oz)

The ingredients list is printed in a tiny font, so this was the best I could do to capture it:

One swipe on the back of my hand

The photo above was taken after a generous (but not ridiculous) application of this lipstick. In extreme close-up there is some streakiness, but it actually looks pretty even in person, with decent coverage. Is it the deep navy blue that you see in the tube? Not on my lips. But it is interesting that, on my hand, this reads as almost a dark teal but, on my medium-pigmented lips, the color is much closer to navy than teal, with not nearly as much green coming through.

The texture of this lipstick is surprisingly nice. I had heard that the Femme Lipsticks tend to be dry and cakey, but I found this lipstick to glide on the lips easily, with a very smooth and creamy texture. It was FAR better than I was anticipating. The staying power, however, is poor with this one. In under an hour, the color on the entire center region of my lips was completely gone, leaving me with MAJOR ring-around-the-lips. Seriously, if you plan to wear this on its own, you'll probably need to check it vigilantly and reapply often in the center of your lips.

When it comes to flavor and fragrance, this is where it's really going to depend on your sensitivity to both of those things. Kleancolor is known for having a strong chemical scent to their nail polishes, and some can tolerate it while others cannot. This definitely applies to these lipsticks as well. Some of you have told me that you absolutely cannot stand the flavor and scent of these lipsticks, and that actually made me a bit scared to try them! Now that I have used this lipstick several times, I can tell you that it DOES have a strong chemical flavor and fragrance, and to me it both smells and tastes like hairspray mixed with a tiny bit of a fruity note.

I know that a lot of you can't understand the obsession that some of us have with blue lip colors. For me, part of it is a call-back to the 80s when brands like Jordana, L'Oreal, Maybelline, etc. all had blue lipsticks in their core collections. I'm not sure why blue lip colors are now often reserved for limited edition collections when it comes to the drugstore (and even then, the limited edition blue shades always seem to lack pigmentation) since there's still a demand for them. And if you are thinking, "I would just NEVER wear a blue lipstick!" you are not alone. I actually wouldn't wear one by itself either, but that's because I'm a bit older now than when the first wave of blue lipsticks came around, and I also don't have the skintone to pull off deep blues on my lips.

BUT: I want to show you what you can do with a blue lipstick, even if you have no interest in wearing it by itself:

This is After Hours combined with a standard, medium-toned neutral red creme lipstick. For this look, I used Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Fifth Avenue Red, but any standard neutral red creme will do. I simply applied the red lipstick on top of the blue lipstick, and the end result is a gorgeous plummy-purple.

So my point is, even if you would never fathom wearing a blue lip color on its own, a blue lipstick can jazz up your existing reds and create some beautiful plums and purples.

FINAL VERDICT: If you can't wait for the NYX Macarons to come out and you need a low-budget bold lipstick fix, these might be worth it if you can tolerate the fragrance and flavor. I found the texture of this lipstick to be quite nice, and the pigmenation as well. But it is a high-maintanance lipstick in terms of wear-time. You will need to check it often for fading and reapply frequently throughout the day. Mixing this color with other lip colors is my personal favorite way to wear it, but the choice is yours!

Kleancolor Femme Lipsticks can be purchased via the Kleancolor website and also at 10dollarmall.com. You can also find them at Daiso stores and probably on Amazon as well. Do you own any Kleancolor Femme Lipsticks? I'd love to hear how they're working for you!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.