Pearls typically go in a clear coat in which you paint over a light or dark base coat. The darker the base coat, the more effect you get out of the pearl. Like you said most shops will do the base, clear with pearl (or kandy), then top with straight clear if you want to wet sand for a show finish.
But if I can be honest with you, to me pearls and kandys are really for "show off cars". I think when g-bodys get painted like that they look very "lowriderish" if you know what I mean. If that's where you're going with your project then cool. But to me it seems like you're going for a more performance orient build and I think flashy paint like that is more for other venues as I stated above. But ... to each their own. I've yet to see a performance oriented g-body painted with a pearl or kandy that I like.
Seen plenty of lowrider g-bodys and donks that look good, but then that fits what they are trying to do as well. IMO very few muscle car, especially ones with squareish lines, look good wearing pearls and kandys unless they are designed for the show circuit.
Also, unless it's a part that can be totally removed and repainted (like a hood or fender) they're hard to repaint if you damage the paint on the quarter panel or main body of the car. When you over-lap an already painted area the pearl/kandy builds up and becomes darker. It can be done, but it's hard. I had a HOK candy apple red Mustang that I damaged the 1/4 panel and the entire body had to be repainted. It was a disaster.
I think g-body's look best with a fine to medium metallic base coat with clear over it. Flashy, but not overkill if you follow me. When painting a car you don't want to "overpaint" the body lines.
Luxary cars to me wear pearls the best (like white, gunmetal, etc) b/c the paint looks rich and accentuates the lines of the car. Kandys look good on almost anything if you pick the right combination of colors ... but it's a fine line between nice and tacky. And where a pearl or kandy paint that looks awesome on a lowrider g-body is fine, on a car that's built to be more as a "street bruiser" then it kind of over-rides the point of the car.
But like I said I'm don't exactly know where you are going with your project. I'm building mine into a auto-x/corner carver/street machine, and I personally love the dark metallic grey on it now. But I think when it's ultimatly said and done I'll lay on some kind of BMW, Audi, or Mercedes gunmetal pearl (maybe with matt black stripes, I haven't decided on that yet).
The best thing to do is figure out what you want the car to represent and then paint it for that. If you want a performance oriented car, then like I said go with a metallic or solid base coat. If you're wanting something more flashy then yeah go for the pearl or kandy, but make sure you sitting nice and low (like a pro-touring stance) and got some sick rims under the fenders (i don't mean like donk size, but just nice and flush with the body and lots of chrome on them).
The best looking cars are the ones built with a purpose to include all the mods and what the car will be used for.
I know this was kinda' long, but I hope it helps. I LOVE automotive painting and making sure cars are set just right. I worked in a body shop for 2 years, dispite my mis-hap at getting screwed by E.S. haha. Oh well I was new to the area and didn't know much about them.
