diff --git a/src/dev-app/theme-token-api.scss b/src/dev-app/theme-token-api.scss
index d26eb2d68df4..facb6c45e60f 100644
--- a/src/dev-app/theme-token-api.scss
+++ b/src/dev-app/theme-token-api.scss
@@ -37,11 +37,9 @@ $theme: mat.define-light-theme((
 // on the page will inherit these tokens.
 html {
   @include matx.theme(
-    $tokens: mat.m2-tokens-from-theme($theme),
-    $components: (
-      matx.card(),
-      matx.checkbox(),
-    )
+    matx.token-defaults(mat.m2-tokens-from-theme($theme)),
+    matx.card(),
+    matx.checkbox(),
   );
 }
 
@@ -51,11 +49,11 @@ html {
 // rather than the ones for light theme tokens set on `body`. Note that we're not setting *all* of
 // the tokens, since many (density, typography, etc) are the same between light and dark theme.
 .demo-unicorn-dark-theme {
-  @include matx.retheme((
+  @include matx.theme(
     // TODO(mmalerba): In the future this should be configured through `matx.system-colors()`
     matx.checkbox((theme-type: dark)),
     matx.card((theme-type: dark)),
-  ));
+  );
 }
 
 // Apply tokens related to the color palette to any element with `.mat-primary`, `.mat-accent`, or
@@ -68,31 +66,31 @@ html {
 // take precedence.
 // (e.g. <div class="mat-warn><mat-checkbox class="mat-primary">I'm primary</mat-checkbox></div>)
 .mat-primary {
-  @include matx.retheme((
+  @include matx.theme(
     matx.checkbox((
       color-palette: map.get($theme, color, primary)
     )),
-  ));
+  );
 }
 .mat-accent {
-  @include matx.retheme((
+  @include matx.theme(
     matx.checkbox((
       color-palette: map.get($theme, color, accent)
     )),
-  ));
+  );
 }
 .mat-warn {
-  @include matx.retheme((
+  @include matx.theme(
     matx.checkbox((
       color-palette: map.get($theme, color, warn)
     )),
-  ));
+  );
 }
 
 // Apply tokens for a completely custom checkbox that appears as an unfilled red box when unchecked,
 // and a filled green box when checked.
 .demo-traffic-light-checkbox {
-  @include matx.retheme((
+  @include matx.theme(
     matx.checkbox((
       checkmark-color: transparent,
       selected-box-color: green,
@@ -110,5 +108,10 @@ html {
       unselected-hover-ring-color: red,
       unselected-pressed-ring-color: red,
     ))
-  ));
+  );
+}
+
+.demo-what-am-i-doing {
+  // Will not produce any output, should result in a warning.
+  @include matx.theme(matx.checkbox());
 }
diff --git a/src/material-experimental/_index.scss b/src/material-experimental/_index.scss
index 8ce0e1b965fc..c6fdec73e552 100644
--- a/src/material-experimental/_index.scss
+++ b/src/material-experimental/_index.scss
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   popover-edit-typography, popover-edit-density, popover-edit-theme;
 
 // Token-based theming API
-@forward './theming/theming' show theme, retheme;
+@forward './theming/theming' show theme, token-defaults;
 @forward './theming/checkbox' show checkbox;
 @forward './theming/card' show card;
 
diff --git a/src/material-experimental/theming/README.md b/src/material-experimental/theming/README.md
index ebe43c7a4cfd..1e08197908ee 100644
--- a/src/material-experimental/theming/README.md
+++ b/src/material-experimental/theming/README.md
@@ -20,37 +20,34 @@ $my-theme: mat.define-light-theme(...);
 $m2-tokens: mat.m2-tokens-from-theme($my-theme);
 ```
 ## Component theme configuration functions
-- These functions are used to specify which tokens should be applied by the theming mixins _and_ to customize the tokens used in that component to something other than the value from the token set
-- So far the following component theme configuration functions have been implements:
+- These functions are used to specify which tokens should be applied by the `matx.theme` mixin _and_ to customize the tokens used in that component to something other than the value from the token set
+- `matx.token-defaults` is a special configuration function used to set the default token values that will be used for any components that are configured as part of the same mixin call, if no `matx.token-defaults` config is specified, only tokens for the explicitly customized properties will be emitted
+- So far the following component theme configuration functions have been implemented:
   - `matx.checkbox` configures tokens for the mat-checkbox to be applied
   - `matx.card` configures tokens for the mat-card to be applied
-- The returned configurations from these functions are passed to `matx.theme` or `matx.retheme`
-- If no arguments are passed, the configuration instructs the mixin to just output the default value for all of the tokens needed by that component
-- The functions can also accept a map of customizations as an argument.
+- The returned configurations from these functions are passed to `matx.theme`
+- The functions optionally accept a map of customizations as an argument which allows overriding properties tha would otherwise be derived from the default tokens.
   - Each function has its own set of supported map keys that can be used to customize the value of the underlying tokens
-  - The map keys are a higher level API then the tokens, some of the keys may result in a single token being change, but some may change multiple tokens
+  - The map keys are a higher level API then the tokens, some the keys may result in a single token being change, but some may change multiple tokens
   - For supported map keys (TODO: have docs for these):
     - See `$_customization-resolvers` [here](https://github.com/angular/components/blob/main/src/material-experimental/theming/_checkbox.scss) for `matx.checkbox`
     - See `$_customization-resolvers` [here](https://github.com/angular/components/blob/main/src/material-experimental/theming/_card.scss) for `matx.card`
 
 ## Theming mixins
-- There are 2 mixins used for theming apps
-    - `matx.theme` is intended to apply the full theme for some components, with all tokens they need to function.
-    - `matx.retheme` is intended to re-apply specific tokens to change the appearance for some components by overriding the tokens applied by `matx.theme`.
-- Both mixins emit *only* CSS variables representing design tokens
-- Both mixins emit their tokens directly under the user specified selector. This gives the user complete control over the selector specificity.
+- There is a single mixin used for theming apps: `matx.theme` applies the theme for some set of components (specified by passing component configs)
+- This mixin will always apply theme values for properties explicitly customized in the individual component configs
+- This mixin will apply *all* tokens for the configured component if a `matx.token-defaults` config is specified
+- This mixin emits *only* CSS variables representing design tokens
+- This mixin emits the CSS vars directly under the user specified selector. This gives the user complete control over the selector specificity.
 - Using `matx.theme`
   - Takes 2 arguments:
     - `$tokens` The set of token defaults that will be used for any tokens not explicitly customized by the component theme config
     - `$components` List of component theme configs indicating which components to emit tokens for, and optionally, customizations for some token values
-  - Outputs *all* tokens used by the configured components
-- Using `matx.retheme`
-  - Takes 1 argument:
-    - `$components` List of component theme configs to emit customized token values for
-  - Outputs *only* the explicitly customized tokens, not any of the other tokens used by the component
+  - Outputs CSS variables for the configured components
 
 ## Recommended theming structure
-- Apply the base token values using `matx.theme` *once*
+- Apply the base token values using `matx.theme` together with `matx.token-defaults` *once* (typically to the document root `html { ... }`)
+- Apply incremental overrides to the theme by calling `matx.theme` *without* `matx.token-default` to emit only the properties you want to change
 - Choose selectors with minimal specificity when applying tokens
 - Prefer to rely on CSS inheritance to apply token overrides rather than specificity.
   For example if checkbox tokens are set on the root element (`html`) they will be inherited down
diff --git a/src/material-experimental/theming/_theming.scss b/src/material-experimental/theming/_theming.scss
index 1c4007da0bb1..d1d0a0853535 100644
--- a/src/material-experimental/theming/_theming.scss
+++ b/src/material-experimental/theming/_theming.scss
@@ -88,27 +88,43 @@ $_error-on-missing-dep: false;
   }
 }
 
-/// Takes the full list of tokens and a list of components to configure, and outputs all theme
-/// tokens for the configured components.
-/// @param {Map} $tokens A map of all tokens for the current design system.
+/// Takes a list of components to configure, and outputs theme tokens for the configured components.
 /// @param {List} $components The list of component configurations to emit tokens for.
 /// @output CSS variables representing the theme tokens for the given component configs.
-// TODO(mmalerba): Consider an alternate API where `$tokens` is not a separate argument,
-//  but one of the configs in the `$components` list
-@mixin theme($tokens, $components) {
-  @include _theme($tokens, _get-transitive-deps(mat.private-coerce-to-list($components)));
+@mixin theme($components...) {
+  $filtered-components: ();
+  $tokens: null;
+  @each $component in $components {
+    @if (map.get($component, id) == 'mat.token-defaults') {
+      @if $tokens == null {
+        $tokens: map.get($component, tokens);
+      }
+      @else {
+        @error 'mat.token-defaults specified multiple times in call to mat.theme';
+      }
+    }
+    @else {
+      $filtered-components: list.append($filtered-components, $component);
+    }
+  }
+  $tokens: $tokens or ();
+  @if $tokens == () {
+    @each $component in $filtered-components {
+      @if (map.get($component, customizations) or ()) == () {
+        $component-id: map.get($component, id);
+        @warn 'Call to `#{$component-id}()` will produce no output, this is likely a mistake.' +
+          ' Did you mean to:'+
+          '\a  1. Provide default token values with `mat.token-defaults`?' +
+          '\a  2. Specify customizations in the call to `#{$component-id}`?';
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  @include _theme($tokens, $filtered-components);
 }
 
-/// Takes a list of components to configure, and outputs only the theme tokens that are explicitly
-/// customized by the configurations.
-/// @param {List} $components The list of component configurations to emit tokens for.
-/// @output CSS variables representing the theme tokens for the given component configs.
-// TODO(mmalerba): What should we call this?
-//   - update-theme
-//   - adjust-theme
-//   - edit-theme
-//   - override-theme
-//   - retheme
-@mixin retheme($components) {
-  @include _theme((), mat.private-coerce-to-list($components));
+@function token-defaults($tokens) {
+  @return (
+    id: 'mat.token-defaults',
+    tokens: $tokens
+  );
 }
diff --git a/src/material/card/_card-theme.scss b/src/material/card/_card-theme.scss
index bef100328208..fb855bb29765 100644
--- a/src/material/card/_card-theme.scss
+++ b/src/material/card/_card-theme.scss
@@ -79,8 +79,10 @@
 }
 
 @mixin theme-from-tokens($tokens) {
-  @include mdc-elevated-card-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-elevated-card.$prefix));
-  @include mdc-outlined-card-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-outlined-card.$prefix));
-  @include token-utils.create-token-values(
-      tokens-mat-card.$prefix, map.get($tokens, tokens-mat-card.$prefix));
+  @if ($tokens != ()) {
+    @include mdc-elevated-card-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-elevated-card.$prefix));
+    @include mdc-outlined-card-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-outlined-card.$prefix));
+    @include token-utils.create-token-values(
+        tokens-mat-card.$prefix, map.get($tokens, tokens-mat-card.$prefix));
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/material/checkbox/_checkbox-theme.scss b/src/material/checkbox/_checkbox-theme.scss
index b18b0b323dcc..31ec45129c03 100644
--- a/src/material/checkbox/_checkbox-theme.scss
+++ b/src/material/checkbox/_checkbox-theme.scss
@@ -90,7 +90,9 @@
 }
 
 @mixin theme-from-tokens($tokens) {
-  // TODO(mmalerba): Some of the theme styles above are not represented in terms of tokens,
-  //   so this mixin is currently incomplete.
-  @include mdc-checkbox-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-checkbox.$prefix));
+  @if ($tokens != ()) {
+    // TODO(mmalerba): Some of the theme styles above are not represented in terms of tokens,
+    //   so this mixin is currently incomplete.
+    @include mdc-checkbox-theme.theme(map.get($tokens, tokens-mdc-checkbox.$prefix));
+  }
 }