@p Yeah, it's likely that the ILM guys who did ST:TNG were misled by the legend of the glitter and so replicated that look. That's why their effect doesn't have the churning turbulent quality of the original.

Ironically it was Richard Edlund, an ILM founder, who did that effect AND designed the Star Trek title typeface, but by 1987 he had left the company to found Boss Films (which did Ghostbusters' effects) so he wasn't around to set them straight.