diff --git a/examples/codeeditor/codeeditor.cpp b/examples/codeeditor/codeeditor.cpp
--- a/examples/codeeditor/codeeditor.cpp
+++ b/examples/codeeditor/codeeditor.cpp
@@ -192,7 +192,6 @@
     auto pal = qApp->palette();
     if (theme.isValid()) {
         pal.setColor(QPalette::Base, theme.editorColor(KSyntaxHighlighting::Theme::BackgroundColor));
-        pal.setColor(QPalette::Text, theme.textColor(KSyntaxHighlighting::Theme::Normal));
         pal.setColor(QPalette::Highlight, theme.editorColor(KSyntaxHighlighting::Theme::TextSelection));
     }
     setPalette(pal);
diff --git a/src/lib/syntaxhighlighter.cpp b/src/lib/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
--- a/src/lib/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
@@ -156,15 +156,15 @@
 
 void SyntaxHighlighter::applyFormat(int offset, int length, const KSyntaxHighlighting::Format& format)
 {
-    if (format.isDefaultTextStyle(theme()) || length == 0)
+    if (length == 0)
         return;
 
     QTextCharFormat tf;
-    if (format.hasTextColor(theme()))
-        tf.setForeground(format.textColor(theme()));
+    // always set the foreground color to avoid palette issues
+    tf.setForeground(format.textColor(theme()));
+
     if (format.hasBackgroundColor(theme()))
         tf.setBackground(format.backgroundColor(theme()));
-
     if (format.isBold(theme()))
         tf.setFontWeight(QFont::Bold);
     if (format.isItalic(theme()))