....to get a hint of brown onto my fondant sea shells that I'm making for a beach theme bridal shower cake? Is there a brown dust of somekind or should I lightly use a brown gel food coloring and use a stencil brush to tap it on? Anyone got a better idea?

If you don't want to buy petal dusts in shades of brown, you can use sifted baking cocoa cut with cornstarch to get the color you desire. Just brush it on! Seashells look really great if you put a little bit of pearl dust in your dusts.

Be sure to practice first. There's a bit of a learning curve when first starting to brush color on fondant/gumpaste items.

Thanks for the tip, Cakepro!

Hi,
I would use food colouring and water...I dillute a few drops of brown food colouring in water and brush it on...mostly in the grooves of the shell. You start light and add more as you need it. Let it air dry. I use this method to make my wood grains too.