Comparing Sticker Papers

Ever wonder what the difference is between all the different sticker finish options?

If you've ever shopped on Etsy for planner stickers there's usually three main options.

Regular Matte

Glossy

Premium Matte or Matte Vinyl

Those are the three types I see most and the three I will be testing today.

First of all, each shop has their own sources for their paper, and believe me they are not revealing those sources, so the actual paper may vary quite a bit from shop to shop. 

I have even received an order from one shop that each sheet appeared to be printed on a different type of matte paper.

So this is not exactly a tell all of the secret world of sticker paper, sorry, but more of a general and badly photographed side by side test of three commonly used paper options to help get you started in selecting stickers for your planner. 

Personally, I started out with regular matte paper when I started buying stickers for my planner. They are usually the cheapest option, and I was worried that glossy would not take pen well and might stand out too much on my planner page... all that shine, ya know?

To be honest, the first time I actually tried glossy was for this comparison, and I admit I am surprised at how much I like them.

Can you say - Pretty!

Oh my gosh, pretty.

But despite that sleek, shiny appeal, they didn't hold up in other tests... making that oh so annoying decision between pretty and practical more annoying than ever.

So let's get to it.

Three identical sticker sets printed on different papers.

My first impression was how different the colors appeared. Less noticeable in my poor dining room window photos, I'm afraid.

In the photo above I have regular matte sticker paper on top, glossy in the middle, and premium on the bottom.

The colors on the regular were fine, quite beautiful in fact, but if your screen is better than mine, you might notice that they are a bit darker, a bit grayer, and not quite as vibrant. 

The colors on the glossy were also beautiful, but a bit paler. The darker golds were rich and gorgeous but the pale pink was not as visible.

The colors on the premium blew me away. I'm always hearing how much better glossy does on showing ink, so I was not expecting it to come out second best. The golds were soft and rich, the pale pink held its own, and the hues overall were vibrant and impressive. It looked like it had been printed on a different printer!

Here's another shot,

regular

glossy

premium

Now, the other big difference that you won't be able to tell no matter how I photograph is how these papers feel.

The regular you can imagine. It feels like paper. It's smooth and sturdier than your average printer paper, I shopped around a bit before I found a nice, clean, matte sticker paper that was affordable, but it is still just paper.

The glossy is slick and sturdy, a bit thinner than I expected, but has good body, if that makes sense.

The one I'm calling premium, is the one I couldn't stop touching! It has a soft buttery texture. Like a fine, smooth vinyl. If that makes any sense.

At this point, the three choices all have some differences, but so far it's more preference than performance. But we don't just buy these stickers to look at them...

ok, we sort of do. But to justify those purchases we actually use them. Usually.

So here's some performance tests...

Three headers. And just like before,

regular

glossy

premium

And now the color coding thing makes sense, right?

I stuck these headers into my classic Happy Planner today. But how often do you stick them down and they are just perfect so you leave them alone and move on?

Not often if your borderline psychotic like me.

No, I stick them down, then peel them up because they weren't quite straight, then peel them up because they still weren't quite straight, then peel them up because I changed my mind about where to put them, then peel them up... I think you get the picture.

And all the while I am cussing myself out on the inside because I know what all that peeling and sticking does to the overall end result. But. I. can't. stop.

Psychotic.

So here I peeled them up.

You can see that the regular pulled at the paper a bit.

The glossy pulled at the paper even more.

The premium didn't pull the paper up, but it did leave a little sticky glue behind.

None of them left the paper clean enough to go bare. I would have to place a sticker back down to cover the evidence from each of them.

Then I stuck them down in the next square. You can see the corners show the damage of lifting even though I was careful.

One more time...

Now the corners on the regular and glossy are really showing the damage, and the edges are pulling up a bit and looking stretched. The premium is looking pretty good. I ran my finger over the corner and the wrinkle smoothed out and stuck flat again. Very good.

Next I tried something that I always try to avoid, but I live a real life with real kids in a real house and real hands that I occasionally wash.

I can't tell you how many times my planner has suffered an accidental water attack, but this is the first time I did it on purpose.

One drop of water on each sticker.

The regular immediately did what it always does. It bleeds and fades.

The glossy didn't appear to bleed, but the actual paper sort of warped and got real fragile.

The premium got wet.

After a few seconds I dabbed them dry with a towel and let them sit to air dry for about an hour.

In the end, the regular looks pretty sad. The corners and top edge won't lay flat anymore from the re-positioning, and the ink ran a mess from the water.

The glossy shows some wrinkling and edge lifting from the re-positioning, and the water left behind a shadow like mark and wrinkly texture.

The premium impressed the heck out of me. It's laying flat. All that moving didn't seem to bother its edges at all, it's looking smooth and clean. If you look really closely you can just make out a shadow of a ring left behind where the water sat, slightly darker pigment. 

Seriously impressed.

So at this point, I have a clear front runner... but these stickers aren't just for looks.

Really they're not.

I have to write on them, too. 

Now, before you scroll down, remember that my handwriting is my nemesis.

I can't improve it. I've tried.

I give up.

Don't judge me.

For this I cut strips of each paper and placed them on a piece of regular paper.

It's all very scientific and precise.

And as usual we have 

regular on top

glossy in the middle

premium at the bottom

I wrote on each one with my favorite pens. Staedtler being permanent (and hard to spell), le pen being a felt tip, G2 gel pen being a gel pen, and I'm not going to explain ball point or pencil. You can google those if you need to.

Each time I wrote the word, I counted to three then dragged my finger across it to check for smearing.

I was cringing when it came to smear testing the glossy. I just knew it was going to smear like crazy and leave ink all over my fingers.

I was wrong.

There was only the slightest line of ink that ran at the bottom of the ball point pen and I'm pretty sure that was just one of those little ink balls that fuzz up and fall off of ball points now and then.

But I had been sure the gel pen would smear. Sure.

So I tried again with a darker gel pen ink color, and this time I did not count to three, just wrote and dragged my finger across...

And haha! I knew it would smear! Ok just a tiny little bit at the bottom of the letters, and guess what? The regular matte paper smeared a tiny bit, too. But the premium?

Crystal clear.

You can't argue with science, people.

Just in case you have outstanding observation skills and you're wondering why I didn't write Pencil on the glossy... I did. It's there, it just doesn't show up. 

So, if you're a pencil planner, I don't recommend glossy, and in fact, the pencil is the only one that didn't show extra beautiful on the premium paper either, it's visible, just not as dark.

All things said and done, how am I feeling about my sticker paper options?

Regular matte is a good economical choice.

It takes all inks and pencil well, but it hates water and doesn't agree with my re-positioning sticker perfection.

Glossy is pretty.

Oh so pretty.

But it shrivels at the sight of a wet hand and loses its stick and shape with re-positioning.

Premium matte with its vinyl like qualities is a strong durable choice. It is beautiful and stroke worthy (I don't mean that to sound nasty) with its soft buttery texture that takes ink and locks it in. It laughs in the face of my freshly washed hands and keeps its integrity through my OCD move-around habits, though it does leave a bit of glue behind when lifting that might be messy if you're not putting a sticker back on that spot.

In my opinion, the premium is the clear front runner and I have just placed a huge order to upgrade the stickers in my Etsy shop even though it's going to eat into my non-existent profits. I feel it is a better product over all and that's what I want to have represent me, just in case I start getting orders.

If you have made it this far, please leave a comment on what type of sticker paper you prefer. Have you found any other options out there? I'm curious... and I'd appreciate it!