diff --git a/packages/ui/src/Input.recipe.ts b/packages/ui/src/Input.recipe.ts
index 37932dd..d68c28f 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/Input.recipe.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/Input.recipe.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,17 @@ const transitionCommon =
  *
  * Focus matches both native `:focus-visible` (plain inputs; browsers treat any
  * focus in a text field as focus-visible) and react-aria's `data-focused`
- * (inputs inside RAC TextField). Focus is declared after invalid so a focused
- * invalid field shows the focus ring, as in Chakra.
+ * (inputs inside RAC TextField).
+ *
+ * Hover, invalid and focus all set `borderColor`, so their precedence has to be
+ * hover < invalid < focus. Declaration order will not buy that: Panda sorts a
+ * recipe's state rules itself, ranking selectors against a fixed
+ * link/visited/focus/hover/active table, which puts `_hover` *after* focus and
+ * after anything the table doesn't mention (`[data-invalid]`). Equal-specificity
+ * rules then leave hover winning. So the ladder is spelled with repeated `&`
+ * instead — `&&` and `&&&` emit `.input.input` and `.input.input.input`, making
+ * precedence specificity rather than order, which nothing downstream can
+ * resort. Variants still override freely; they land in a later cascade layer.
  *
  * Registered in the base preset (base-preset.ts), which also has the
  * `staticCss` entry that keeps the runtime-prop size variants generated.
@@ -39,11 +48,11 @@ export const input = defineRecipe({
     bg: "inherit",
     color: "inherit",
     _hover: { borderColor: "gray.300" },
-    "&[data-invalid], &:user-invalid": {
+    "&&:is([data-invalid], :user-invalid)": {
       borderColor: "danger.500",
       boxShadow: "0 0 0 1px token(colors.danger.500)",
     },
-    "&:is(:focus-visible, [data-focused])": {
+    "&&&:is(:focus-visible, [data-focused])": {
       zIndex: 1,
       borderColor: "focusBorder",
       boxShadow: "0 0 0 1px token(colors.focusBorder)",
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/Select.recipe.ts b/packages/ui/src/Select.recipe.ts
index e6fabb9..10abdec 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/Select.recipe.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/Select.recipe.ts
@@ -82,9 +82,12 @@ export const select = defineSlotRecipe({
       // `> &` rather than a descendant selector, so an app's own invalid form
       // wrapper cannot paint every control inside it red.
       //
-      // Declared after hover and before focus so red beats a hover tint and
-      // the focus ring beats red, as in the input recipe.
-      "[data-invalid] > &": {
+      // Doubled `&` for the same reason as the input recipe: hover, invalid and
+      // focus all set `borderColor`, and Panda sorts state rules by its own
+      // pseudo-class table rather than declaration order, so hover would win
+      // these ties. The repeated `&` makes the hover < invalid < focus ladder a
+      // matter of specificity instead.
+      "[data-invalid] > &&": {
         borderColor: "danger.500",
         boxShadow: "0 0 0 1px token(colors.danger.500)",
       },
@@ -98,7 +101,7 @@ export const select = defineSlotRecipe({
       // focus moves to an option (aria-activedescendant) — which strips RAC's
       // attribute for as long as the list has an active option, real focus
       // never having left. Select's trigger holds no input, so it can't match.
-      "&[data-focus-visible], &:has(input:focus)": {
+      "&&&[data-focus-visible], &&&:has(input:focus)": {
         boxShadow: "0 0 0 1px token(colors.focusBorder)",
         borderColor: "focusBorder",
         outline: "2px solid transparent",