diff --git a/modules/emoji/emoji.go b/modules/emoji/emoji.go
index e2c3d202e..169ee0a18 100644
--- a/modules/emoji/emoji.go
+++ b/modules/emoji/emoji.go
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ func ReplaceAliases(s string) string {
 // FindEmojiSubmatchIndex returns index pair of longest emoji in a string
 func FindEmojiSubmatchIndex(s string) []int {
 	loadMap()
+	found := make(map[int]int)
+	keys := make([]int, 0)
 
 	//see if there are any emoji in string before looking for position of specific ones
 	//no performance difference when there is a match but 10x faster when there are not
@@ -137,11 +139,26 @@ func FindEmojiSubmatchIndex(s string) []int {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// get index of first emoji occurrence while also checking for longest combination
 	for j := range GemojiData {
 		i := strings.Index(s, GemojiData[j].Emoji)
 		if i != -1 {
-			return []int{i, i + len(GemojiData[j].Emoji)}
+			if _, ok := found[i]; !ok {
+				if len(keys) == 0 || i < keys[0] {
+					found[i] = j
+					keys = []int{i}
+				}
+				if i == 0 {
+					break
+				}
+			}
 		}
 	}
+
+	if len(keys) > 0 {
+		index := keys[0]
+		return []int{index, index + len(GemojiData[found[index]].Emoji)}
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/modules/markup/html_test.go b/modules/markup/html_test.go
index 686057d11..d535e4341 100644
--- a/modules/markup/html_test.go
+++ b/modules/markup/html_test.go
@@ -266,6 +266,10 @@ func TestRender_emoji(t *testing.T) {
 	test(
 		"Some text with 😄😄 2 emoji next to each other",
 		`<p>Some text with <span class="emoji" aria-label="grinning face with smiling eyes">😄</span><span class="emoji" aria-label="grinning face with smiling eyes">😄</span> 2 emoji next to each other</p>`)
+	test(
+		"😎🤪🔐🤑❓",
+		`<p><span class="emoji" aria-label="smiling face with sunglasses">😎</span><span class="emoji" aria-label="zany face">🤪</span><span class="emoji" aria-label="locked with key">🔐</span><span class="emoji" aria-label="money-mouth face">🤑</span><span class="emoji" aria-label="question mark">❓</span></p>`)
+
 	// should match nothing
 	test(
 		"2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334",
diff --git a/web_src/less/_base.less b/web_src/less/_base.less
index b6e0291ca..fbba5d7c5 100644
--- a/web_src/less/_base.less
+++ b/web_src/less/_base.less
@@ -1271,33 +1271,18 @@ i.icon.centerlock {
 
 .emoji,
 .reaction {
-    font-size: 1.5em;
-    line-height: 1.2;
+    font-size: 1.25em;
+    line-height: 1;
     font-style: normal !important;
     font-weight: normal !important;
-    vertical-align: middle;
+    vertical-align: -.075em;
 }
 
-#issue-title > .emoji {
-    font-size: 1em;
-}
-
-.commit-summary > .emoji {
-    font-size: 1em;
-}
-
-.label > .emoji {
-    font-size: 1em;
-}
-
-.dropdown .emoji {
-    font-size: 1em;
-}
 .emoji img,
 .reaction img {
     border-width: 0 !important;
     margin: 0 !important;
     width: 1em !important;
     height: 1em !important;
-    vertical-align: middle !important;
+    vertical-align: -.15em;
 }
diff --git a/web_src/less/_repository.less b/web_src/less/_repository.less
index 5450d8d85..d5c4a984d 100644
--- a/web_src/less/_repository.less
+++ b/web_src/less/_repository.less
@@ -2246,7 +2246,7 @@
         .select-reaction {
             display: flex;
             align-items: center;
-            padding: .5rem;
+            padding: 0 .5rem;
 
             &:not(.active) a {
                 display: none;