diff --git a/clint/textui/colored.py b/clint/textui/colored.py
index 7ff3878..0906dde 100644
--- a/clint/textui/colored.py
+++ b/clint/textui/colored.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ class ColoredString(object):
 
     def __unicode__(self):
         value = self.color_str
-        if isinstance(value, str) and hasattr(value, 'decode'):
+        if isinstance(value, bytes):
             return value.decode('utf8')
         return value