diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline.c b/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline.c
index da2d2ce7e..6a77cda7f 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline.c
@@ -492,9 +492,6 @@ _cogl_pipeline_free (CoglPipeline *pipeline)
       _cogl_bitmask_destroy (&uniforms_state->changed_mask);
     }
 
-  if (pipeline->differences & COGL_PIPELINE_STATE_NEEDS_BIG_STATE)
-    g_slice_free (CoglPipelineBigState, pipeline->big_state);
-
   if (pipeline->differences & COGL_PIPELINE_STATE_LAYERS)
     {
       g_list_foreach (pipeline->layer_differences,
@@ -508,6 +505,9 @@ _cogl_pipeline_free (CoglPipeline *pipeline)
   if (pipeline->differences & COGL_PIPELINE_STATE_FRAGMENT_SNIPPETS)
     _cogl_pipeline_snippet_list_free (&pipeline->big_state->fragment_snippets);
 
+  if (pipeline->differences & COGL_PIPELINE_STATE_NEEDS_BIG_STATE)
+    g_slice_free (CoglPipelineBigState, pipeline->big_state);
+
   g_list_free (pipeline->deprecated_get_layers_list);
 
   recursively_free_layer_caches (pipeline);