In a polished floor the concrete is the finish: diamond tooling, coarse to fine, grinds, hones and polishes the surface of the slab until it turns smooth and reflective. Nothing is painted on. Epoxy-type systems work the opposite way, as films laid over a prepared slab.
Flat, satin, polished and high polish
The trade grades shine in four levels. Level 1 is flat, a ground surface. Level 2 is satin, also called honed, and level 3 is polished. Level 4 is high polish. Coarse metal-bond diamonds do the first cutting and finer resin-bond diamonds follow as the shine rises, and each extra level is more passes over the floor.
Densifier and guard
Densifier is a clear silicate liquid. Lime in the concrete reacts with it and the pores fill, which firms the surface for polishing. With little lime to react with, a weak slab may not firm up as hoped. Whether a stain guard goes on top depends on the floor.
Cream, salt-and-pepper and aggregate looks
How deep the grinding goes sets the look. A light cut leaves a cream finish of cement fines, a deeper cut shows fine sand and stone flecks as salt and pepper, and a deep cut exposes the larger stones. What shows is decided by the mix and the finishing of the slab you have, which is why a trial spot on the actual floor comes first.