Good Lord is there still a hoohar about this!!! I admit I've not read one single post of this thread as I don't have the time but why oh why can people not see the benefits of being able to go locally and see the colours before they buy? I can now buy from a supplier here in Spain that is half an hour up the road and it has been fantastic to be able to see the colours, rather than poorly printed images or photos online, it's actually saved me a fortune in colours that I may have chosen and decided against.
Do you really think your clients give a tuppence about which product you use or where you buy it? Do you really believe it makes YOU any less professional? All they are worried about is that it lasts and they have a great colour choice ... and that is why I now use three different brands. They will trust YOUR professionalism. I bet most of your clients don't even know what a Sallys store is, even less have visited one and even less have ever bought anything.
And there IS a skill to applying it well. It applies similar to a polish but behaves like a gel and you need to know this. Proper prep, minimising risk of over exposure, proper application. Jeez I've been doing nails 11 years and I still struggle to do mine well., good luck to Joe Public who can't even apply polish cos they hardly ever use base and topcoats, 2 thick layers of polish, floods all over the cuticles ... why should I see this as a threat?
This is not a threat to your business, have faith in yourselves. If someone really wants to go to the expense of a lamp, base and top coat, colours, prep materials then blinking well let them ... they probably wouldn't have come to you in the first place.
It's a good job the hair messers on here don't whine about OTC hair colour or that all their clients can get colour products in Sallys etc or the board would be full of nowt else.
Be grateful that we have a choice, many in this world don't have that luxury. I am truly thankful to whoever created gel polishes whatever brands they may be, it truly saved my financial bacon and I can only ever see it being a positive addition to my business.