Hi, I am about to use pearl dust and know that I should use lemon extract with the dust to brush on, I am wondering any other extract would work just as well?

Clear vanilla or vodka or everclear (pure grain alcohol). You need something colorless (I presume) and a lot of alcohol, so it will dry before any moisture damages whatever you're painting (e.g., fondant, gumpaste).

Would almond extract work?

Read the label, does it have alcohol in it? If so, it should be fine. The reason you want something with alcohol in it, is because the alcohol will evaporate before it messes up the butter cream or fondant.

Ohhh....okay thank you very much for your help!

Depending on what you're using it for, you may not need to mix the dust with anything. Just brush it on dry.

I usually use it dry. Try it both ways on a scrap of fondant or buttercream or whatever and see which look you like. If you're using the extract, definitely try it out on a sample first. The effect varies a lot with how much dry vs. liquid you use.

I use vodka just because it's about 1/100th the cost of using extracts. I don't drink, so I buy a quart bottle of cheap vodka just for caking for about the same cost as a tiny, 1 oz bottle of lemon extract. It will usually last me a good year, whereas I'd go through the extract in a month.

I was using vodka to apply it, then I tried it with a dry brush...I liked the look so much better!

Dry dusting will give you more of a subtle effect. Mixing it with one of the extracts/alcohols, will make it bolder/darker.

After applying it dry, you can steam the dust to set it. I usually use pearl dust for bows and pearls then steam them. "They turn out so very pretty."

90% of the time I use it dry, but when I need a deeper shade of it, I like to mix it with vanilla extract or vodka. One time when I was in a pinch, I believe I used mango flavored rum! I can't remember how well that turned out....

I just usually try to stay away from lemon juice though just because I can't wrap my head around what that will taste like LOL

Personal preference I guess!