Of course, taste matters! For a long time I was doing fine with Toba's Glace but wanted a bolder color so I started using Antonia's. That worked well but while making some cute apple cookies for back to school, I was disappointed my shiny cookies turned VERY matte. Don't know if I messed something up, or just remembered it shinier. Anyway... your help and opinion would be very appreciated!
Deirdre

That's a good question. I think that royal icing with a few drops of glycerine added to the recipe gives a nice subtle sheen to the finished cookie. But I've only worked with royal icing, so there might be something shinier out there.
A few weeks ago, another CC member shared her discovery about how to make her royal icing very shiny - here's the link to that thread -
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-597732.html

If you want a bolder color with Toba's, try adding some brite white food color when you mix the icing. Divide and color as usual. I also use Americolor soft gel food colors, which gives very good color.

Thank you both very much. I did try a bit of glycerine with my RI the other day when I noticed how matte the RI was. It didn't seem to help (my glycerine was kinda old though I'm off to try Toba's again tonight and I'll try the whitener. I won't be happy until my apples are shiney Thanks again![/i]

This recipe is pretty shiny. I've been very pleased with it. Of course, it's the only icing I've ever used, so I don't have any comparison. Hope it helps:

2 lb Bag Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 tsp Vanilla (clear) or add a flavor of your choice
2 Tbl Milk
6-10 Tbl Water
2 Tbl Light Corn Syrup