diff --git a/gtk/gtkicontheme.c b/gtk/gtkicontheme.c
index a90264d876..45edf61ddf 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkicontheme.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkicontheme.c
@@ -1164,7 +1164,6 @@ insert_theme (GtkIconTheme *icon_theme,
 
       priv->dir_mtimes = g_list_prepend (priv->dir_mtimes, dir_mtime);
     }
-  priv->dir_mtimes = g_list_reverse (priv->dir_mtimes);
 
   theme_file = NULL;
   for (i = 0; i < priv->search_path_len && !theme_file; i++)
@@ -1389,7 +1388,7 @@ load_themes (GtkIconTheme *icon_theme)
       dir = icon_theme->priv->search_path[base];
 
       dir_mtime = g_slice_new (IconThemeDirMtime);
-      priv->dir_mtimes = g_list_append (priv->dir_mtimes, dir_mtime);
+      priv->dir_mtimes = g_list_prepend (priv->dir_mtimes, dir_mtime);
       
       dir_mtime->dir = g_strdup (dir);
       dir_mtime->mtime = 0;
@@ -1414,6 +1413,7 @@ load_themes (GtkIconTheme *icon_theme)
 
       g_dir_close (gdir);
     }
+  priv->dir_mtimes = g_list_reverse (priv->dir_mtimes);
 
   for (d = priv->resource_paths; d; d = d->next)
     {