Dyes are much newer to the decorative concrete scene than traditional stains. Their ease of use, wide color variety, and vibrancy has caused a recent surge in concrete dye popularity.  Dyes work hand in hand with stains to provide color variations and treat problem areas that didn’t stain well.  Much like water based stain, concrete dyes take advantage of the porous concrete structure by absorbing into the surface.  However, the size of the color particles in dyes is much smaller than that of stains, allowing for a greater degree of  penetration and saturation while leaving less residue on the surface.  This provides a much more intense and vibrant color than stain. The downside of this is that the very fast penetration of dyes leaves little room for error during application.  Also, concrete dyes are not UV stable which means in most cases they are for indoor projects only.