diff --git a/doc/pages/faces.asciidoc b/doc/pages/faces.asciidoc
index 4af8f6635..eb382c24c 100644
--- a/doc/pages/faces.asciidoc
+++ b/doc/pages/faces.asciidoc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ color, a background color, and some attributes. The value of a face has the
 following format:
 
 ---------------------------------------
-fg_color[,bg_color][+attributes][@base]
+[fg_color][,bg_color][+attributes][@base]
 ---------------------------------------
 
 'fg_color', 'bg_color'::
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ fg_color[,bg_color][+attributes][@base]
             keep the existing color
         *rgb:RRGGBB*:::
             hexadecimal value
+    if unspecified, *default* is used.
 
 'attributes'::
     string whose individual letters set an attribute:
diff --git a/src/face_registry.cc b/src/face_registry.cc
index 830210602..53f059aa8 100644
--- a/src/face_registry.cc
+++ b/src/face_registry.cc
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ namespace Kakoune
 
 static FaceRegistry::FaceSpec parse_face(StringView facedesc)
 {
-    constexpr StringView invalid_face_error = "invalid face description, expected <fg>[,<bg>][+<attr>][@base] or just [base]";
+    constexpr StringView invalid_face_error = "invalid face description, expected [<fg>][,<bg>][+<attr>][@base] or just [base]";
     if (all_of(facedesc, [](char c){ return is_word(c); }) and not is_color_name(facedesc))
         return {Face{}, facedesc.str()};