Lacquers are best be described as a coloured or clear varnishes. Lacquers dry by solvent evaporation, and quite often a curing process will be used to produce a durable hard finish for any type of sheen, from ultra matte to a high gloss, and then the lacquers can be polished even further if required. The word lacquer comes from the Portuguese word lac, and is a form of resin excreted by certain insects. Lac based varnishes are known as shellac. Lacquers refers to some polymers which are dissolved in volatile organic compounds, such as nitrocellulose and acrylic and dissolved in lacquer thinner, which is a mixture of several solvents. Lacquers and shellac are traditional finishes, with lacquers being more durable than shellac. There are several types of lacquers and some of these are acrylic lacquers, urushiol based lacquers and water based lacquers.