Hi all you wonderful bakers. I have a question
I am baking a large cake foy my neice and I thought I would get a head start on all of the figures(3 weeks in advance). I used a 50/50 mixture of gum paste and fondant. Once all of my figures dired, they look chalky and dull. I tried to dry paint on some Pearl Dust, while it did five a slight shimmer, they still look dry and boring.
Can someone offer up some advice and tips

Are you talking about excess powdered sugar and/or cornstarch on your figures? Or did the color fade? If you had a fade out, you can mix some color with some vodka or other clear alcohol, test the color on a paper towel and then paint the figures with that mixture and let it dry. If that is what happened, you've probably already figured out that sugarpaste usually dries lighter than the color you've kneaded in and you have to make it a little darker to get the color you want.

Yep..I think I might have used too much corn starch while making them.
So now they just look "dull"

Very lightly brush them with vodka and it will take the extra cornstarch away.

shortening rub down