Custom CSS in Order status email

[welshop.com]

Something I figured would be easy is proving rather difficult so any help would be appreciated.

I would like to add a bit of styling to the order status emails so that the updated status appears highlighted. So I amended the order status email adding a status class in the css and then adding the class to the div.
This works in a HTML editor but when I upload it - nothing. If I check the source code of an order status email the additional css doesnt even appear.

I assume I have to edit some other file but after a few hours scouring the forums I am none the wiser.

Cheers
Brinley

[DrByte]

All changes made to the /email/email_template_XXXXXXX.html files take effect on the next HTML emails sent from the store.

[welshop.com]

Hi Doc

Yeah I am aware of that, I did the changes a while back and am just revisiting it so the source code of the recent emails I have should show the changes.

Here's the amendment I made to the css
.status {color: #323232;font-size: 16px; line-height: 62px; padding: 5px; margin: 10px 0; border: 1px #dbdbdb solid; background-color: #f6f5f3;}

and I changed the div to
<div class="status">$EMAIL_TEXT_STATUS_UPDATED</div>

Obviously I'm missing still missing something somewhere.

Cheers
Brinley

[welshop.com]

Took a clean install email file for direct email and got it working so just have to figure out where I am going wrong in the status email.