How can I reverse the color fade of the Sparkling social follow me buttons?

Hi @therevisionist,

I hope you are well today and thank you for your question.

You can try achieving this by adding the following CSS code in the Custom CSS option of the latest version of Sparkling theme on the below path.

Admin Area -> Appearance -> Customize -> Sparkling Options -> Other -> Custom CSS

#page #menu-social li a:hover{
    background-color: #dadada !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="facebook.com"] {
  background-color: #4265b9 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="twitter.com"] {
  background-color: #55ACEE !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="dribbble.com"] {
  background-color: #ea4c89 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="flickr.com"] {
  background-color: #ff0084 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="plus.google.com"] {
  background-color: #d62408 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="skype.com"] {
  background-color: #0bbff2 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="pinterest.com"] {
  background-color: #c31e26 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="linkedin.com"] {
  background-color: #005987 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="vimeo.com"] {
  background-color: #1bb6ec !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="tumblr.com"] {
  background-color: #35506b !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="youtube.com"] {
  background-color: #df3333 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="instagram.com"] {
  background-color: #F95B60 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="/feed"] {
  background-color: #f39c12 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="foursquare.com"] {
  background-color: #2398C9 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="soundcloud.com"] {
  background-color: #F50 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="github.com"] {
  background-color: #4183C4 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="xing.com"] {
  background-color: #006567 !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="spotify.com"] {
  background-color: #81b71a !important;
}
#menu-social li a[href*="mailto"] {
  background-color: #DA4453 !important;
}

Best regards,
Vinod Dalvi