diff --git a/src/standard/styling.html b/src/standard/styling.html
index fc637c9483..edf1144bdd 100644
--- a/src/standard/styling.html
+++ b/src/standard/styling.html
@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@
           var cssText = styleTransformer.elementStyles(this);
           // do we really need to output shimmed styles
           var needsStatic = this._needsStaticStyles(this._styles);
-          // NOTE: IE has css style ordering issues unless there's at least a
-          // space in the stylesheet.
-          cssText = needsStatic ? cssText : ' ';
           // under shady dom we always output a shimmed style (which may be 
           // empty) so that other dynamic stylesheets can always be placed 
           // after the element's main stylesheet. 
           // This helps ensure element styles are always in registration order.
           if (needsStatic || !nativeShadow) {
+            // NOTE: IE has css style ordering issues unless there's at least a
+            // space in the stylesheet.
+            cssText = needsStatic ? cssText : ' ';
             var style = styleUtil.applyCss(cssText, this.is,
               nativeShadow ? this._template.content : null);
             // keep track of style when in document scope (polyfill) so we can
diff --git a/test/unit/styling-cross-scope-var.html b/test/unit/styling-cross-scope-var.html
index ae72cd0cbe..6c06e3c761 100644
--- a/test/unit/styling-cross-scope-var.html
+++ b/test/unit/styling-cross-scope-var.html
@@ -845,7 +845,6 @@
     assert.equal('url(http://placehold.it/400x300)', url);
   });
 
-  // skip for now, until #3326 is fixed
   test('custom style class overrides css variable', function() {
     var d = document.createElement('x-variable-override');
     d.classList.add('variable-override');