diff --git a/lib/UIKit/TUIButton.m b/lib/UIKit/TUIButton.m
index f422b4ec..7f1c73af 100644
--- a/lib/UIKit/TUIButton.m
+++ b/lib/UIKit/TUIButton.m
@@ -207,7 +207,12 @@ - (void)drawRect:(CGRect)r
 	
 	_titleView.text = self.currentTitle;
 	_titleView.textColor = self.currentTitleColor;
-	_titleView.renderer.shadowColor = self.currentTitleShadowColor;
+	TUIColor *shadowColor = self.currentTitleShadowColor;
+	// they may have manually set the renderer's shadow color, in which case we 
+	// don't want to reset it to nothing
+	if(shadowColor != nil) {
+		_titleView.renderer.shadowColor = shadowColor;
+	}
 	
 	CGContextRef ctx = TUIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
 	CGContextSaveGState(ctx);