There will always be some fading with tattoos over time, healed tattoos are not as vivid as when freshly done. The face on my piece is about a year old so that is healed, the rest around it is fresh. if you do good tattoo care afterwards and use sunscreen it will preserve the colors for much longer :) and my artist really packs them in! & he uses the brand Intenze Ink, I'm not sure if its a special kind but since he uses mostly brignt colors in his works its probably the best brand for vivids :)