So forgive the title of this, i didnt know what to say lol. I'm making a wine bottle cake. its a white wine so the color is a lighter golden color. the glass is clear. my plan is to paint the fondant with pearl dust in gold to look like the wine and silver for the top thats clear. but i wanted to use the edible varnish recipe i found on this site to make it really look like glass. do you think if i paint the varnish over the pearl dust once its dried it would mess up the pearl dust?? has anyone ever used the edible varnish?? i read on the reviews where people had some issues with it but im wondering how it would do over pearl dust painted fondant.

and if the edible varnish wont work for my purposes (ill try it out and if i dont like the effect im not putting it on the cake), have you ever steamed pearl dust painted fondant. i've accidentally hit painted fondant with my steamer and the results werent horrible but the color tried to run a little.... but pearl dust is different...

ive thought about just coloring the fondant a lighter yellow golden color but im not sure i could get it to look like it should....

I haven't tried it but I think that will be a problem. Hopefully someone will know for sure.

If I was making this cake, I would color the fondant a golden yellow ( or as close to the color as possible) for the liquid part and a very pale green (like in the picture) for the clear glass. Make sure you butt the two fondants together so they look like one piece. Then use the edible varnish on the whole thing and then and ONLY THEN use an airbrush to create dark and light shadows. Maybe you can use ONE color of lustre dust at this point. I would not paint the edible varnish over any color or dust because they WILL streak and make a mess. Personally, I would avoid the pearl dust - the varnish and airbrushed shadows will look more realistic.
If you dont have an airbrush, you can create the same shadows with petal dust. Only this time, put the petal dust on first before the varnish. I know I said NO VARNISH ON ANY COLOR OR DUSTS, but since the petal dust is "worked into" the fondant, its a little more stable. Oh, and dont drag the brush (varnish) on the surface too much or it can also streak. Good luck