When doing trim on say a purse or an accent on any cake, how are people getting that solid gold or silver look? Is there a special paint or dust for that? I appreciate any input!

Luster dusts. You can get them in different shades of gold or silver.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1495523

Above is my ice bucket painted silver. Is this the look you are talking about? I mixed silver dusting powder & vodka to make a paint and painted it onto my fondant. You are left with no taste of the vodka because it evaporates. You could use lemon extract mixed with silver powder if you don't want to use alcohol. HTH

You can also use metallic airbrush colors...I use Americolor's pearl, silver and gold colors a lot, but I don't have an airbrush, so I paint them onto small details with a paintbrush.

Ah I forgot that Americolor has those. I bought some this summer and haven't used them yet.

You can also get gold and silver glaze which is a good consistency for painting http://www.fancyflours.com/gold-glaze.html

Ooooh gold glaze! WONDERFUL! Thank you all for the nice replys!