diff --git a/data/theme/gnome-shell.css b/data/theme/gnome-shell.css
index 84de40e51..4dc3a2e71 100644
--- a/data/theme/gnome-shell.css
+++ b/data/theme/gnome-shell.css
@@ -662,8 +662,14 @@ StTooltip {
 
 #notification {
     font-size: 16px;
-    border-radius: 5px;
-    background: rgba(0,0,0,0.9);
+    border-radius: 5px 5px 0px 0px;
+    /* FIXME: currently StWidget can only draw non-uniform corners
+     * if the background is a gradient. So, we draw a gradient
+     * from black to black...
+     */
+    background-gradient-direction: vertical;
+    background-gradient-start: rgba(0,0,0,0.9);
+    background-gradient-end: rgba(0,0,0,0.9);
     color: white;
     padding: 2px 10px 10px 10px;
     spacing-rows: 5px;