Where to Buy the Best Essential Oils

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I used to think that essential oils were a scam, but I ended up finding out that they are a great resource for your natural medicine cabinet for issues such as headaches, ear infections, tummy aches, viruses and bacterial infections, and more. But I eventually felt I needed to figure out where to buy essential oils that I could trust and that I could reasonably afford.

I spent a ton of time calling companies, asking questions, sampling oils.  Literally, it was a ton.  And it was very exhausting.

I’ve learned a lot with all the time I’ve spent researching oils companies and I’ve covered a lot of what I learned here in this essential oils series, some of which I wrote while I was still trying to figure out which company I was going to be using and recommending.

Where to Buy Essential Oils you can trust
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Previous Posts In the Series:

In this post, I’ll talk about the company that I decided to purchase our oils from.

It’s also the one that I recommend to you as having the best essential oils for the money, with natural healing qualities and no additives or adulterating.

Confused about essential oils? What this blogger found out will surprise you. She tried to find out which essential oils company is best and found out some VERY interesting things about oils and the companies that sell them, including Young Living and doTERRA.

How I Chose Where to Buy Essential Oils for My Family

This all started with my not being happy with the way questions were (or were not) answered by the “Big Guys” on the block.  So I started contacting a bunch of companies and interviewing them about their oils.

If you remember, when I started trying to figure out where to buy essential oils, I mentioned the following about Native American Nutritionals (now Rocky Mountain Oils) in Part One of the series.

“Looks like they carry good products, but they are a bit expensive.  Their prices, for a number of oils, in fact, are almost identical to the MLMs in this group, Young Living and DoTerra.  And I don’t see any difference on the surface in the quality department.”

In this post, you can see that I ended up recommending them, but this was really a surprise for me. After thinking that I was writing them off, I got a call back from the owner of Native American Nutritionals, and I talked with the owner for a few hours (at first….that turned into many hours in the upcoming month) and found that he really “knew his stuff.”

I also found out that there were a lot of differences between his company and many others in the industry. I asked him tons of questions during our first conversation, and then more and more over the course of the next 10 months, while I investigated other companies as well.  (Wow–it’s been that long since I started writing this series…..)

I was intrigued by what he had to say about his company and the oils industry in general.

We had countless conversations from March 2012 – January 2013, during which I literally grilled him about his company and others to figure out which company I wanted to recommend–and if his, was in fact, good enough for my family–and for all of you.

I now can say that I feel very comfortable recommending this company to you and am now using their oils almost exclusively (I have a few bottles of other brands left over :)).

I hope you check them out and I’d love to hear about your experience.

(Disclaimer.  I did not choose this company because I was able to become an affiliate for them, but I am one. I decided to work with them and then we made an partnership agreement. I was the first affiliate for the company.)

Where to Buy Essential Oils You Can Trust–
Rocky Mountain Oils Review

Please note – since this series was written, Rocky Mountain Oils has purchased Native American Nutritionals. Native American Nutritionals was the original company, but the two companies had a partnership. Then Rocky Mountain Oils (RMO) purchased NAN and now RMO is a new company.  I am even more confident in the quality of oils now that this all has taken place.

Before we get on with the details about the company, you can Rocky Mountain Oils and see all that they have to offer.

1.  Experience

The owner of Native American Nutritionals (which later merged with Rocky Mountain Oils), Paul Dean, was in the oils industry since 1997, being first introduced to essential oils about 30 years ago.  He started his first full-time essential oils business in 1998.

Rocky Mountain Oils was founded in 2004 by two essential oil enthusiasts, Michael and Leah Vincent. With years of experience in essential oils, the acquisition of Native American Nutritionals, and 14 years of company growth, RMO has become one of the leading direct-to-consumer essential oil companies in the world.

2.  Purity

Quality Oilsall oils have been third party GC/MS tested.

Certificates are available upon request by easily entering in the batch number from any bottle.

Almost all of the oils come from plants grown in remote locations where no pesticides, herbicides, or harmful chemicals are used and only natural fertilizers are used.

3.  Indigenous Plants

All oils come from plants grown in their indigenous locations (where they grow naturally).

4.  Oils from Small Farms

Almost all oils from NAN were sourced directly from small farms (many are from third-world countries).  Mr. Dean contracted with locals in the countries from where he sourced the oils, finds a quality farm, sets up a distiller, and extracts the oils.  The oils are then sent to Native American, then sent for testing, and bottled.  The only oils at NAN that are not from small farms are mainly the organic citrus oils.

Since Rocky Mountain Oils purchased Native American Nutritionals, some of the sourcing has changed as the company has put a high priority on the purity and quality of the oils sold. They source from small farms and also from leading experts in the industry.

5.  No Solvents

They use no solvents for distillation except when necessary, as in the case of absolutes like vanilla and jasmine (since the cost of those essential oils is otherwise prohibitive.)  Update 2015: they now sell a vanilla extracted with CO2.

6.  Affordable Pricing

They have affordable prices (not as expensive as the multi-level marketing companies, but not “too good to be true” either.)

7.  Quality Pure Oils

I have a lot of standards for quality and making sure that you are purchasing quality oils. See this post on pure essential oils for that information.

In addition, I prefer buying organic whenever I can, and that includes essential oils. Recently (Nov 2017), Rocky Mountain Oils has included an organic line of oils in their lineup and should be expanding it soon.

8.  Transparency

Details for oils are listed clearly on their site (including the Latin name and country of origin).

The company is working on how to indicate the growing method now that they sometimes have a variety of sources for some oils.

9.  Reasonable Shipping Costs

I found the shipping costs with YL and doTERRA to be a little on the steep side.  I was told several times by customer service reps of one of the companies that it was due to businesses being charged more than residential customers.

That didn’t make sense to me – business rates being more expensive than residential when they have that kind of bulk shipping going on? So I called UPS and FedEx and was assured that this is not the case.  So I don’t know why their shipping is so high.  Maybe they are pocketing the extra?  

Rocky Mountain Oils offers Free Shipping domestically in the U.S. and reasonable shipping internationally, with free shipping over $199.

10.  Common Sense Approach

The companies recommend using caution with the oils — but also make practical recommendations so that you can confidently use the oils in your every day life.

11.  No Adulterating

Oils are not heated, mixed with anything else, or adulterated in any way.

Unless declared on the label, the oils are pure.

No Minimum Purchase

One other reason that I don’t want to buy from an MLM essential oils company is that when you do, you often end up buying way more than you need to.

For example, with doTERRA and Young Living, in order to get the best discounts on their oils as a rep, you need to order monthly over $100 of products (to get free products that essentially reduce your costs).  Do that every month and you end up with way too many oils).

A lot of multi-level marketing oils reps end up ordering other things from the company like personal care products in order to get to that “minimum.”  And I am not thrilled with the ingredients in many of the other products offered.

Undesirable Ingredients in Other Products from Essential Oils Companies

When I was trying to decide where to buy essential oils, I looked at other things besides just oils.

With doTERRA and Young Living, for example:

– DoTERRA’s On Guard toothpaste contains titanium dioxide, a metal that I initially thought that I should avoid due to the possibility of heavy metal toxicity. Now I’m not worried about it for that reason, but it simply because it isn’t necessary.  It’s there just for color.  Overall it is supposed to be pretty benign, but why introduce it to your body unless needed?

The company also has carrageenan (which, depending on the form, is known to cause inflammation) in their capsules and PEG 100 in their Deep Blue Cream.

{Update 2018 – I have been doing some additional research into carrageenan and am not sure where to come down on this. There are two types and it’s possible that the negative effects being discussed are not of concern. I hope to have an update to this in the near future.}

Both companies’ skin care products had ingredients rated 3 and above on EWG’s Skin Deep rating system. I prefer to stick with ingredients rated 2, at the highest. Depending on what you are looking for, that may or may not be acceptable to you. Of course, it depends on their performance too. I don’t think all of EWG’s ratings are flawless, but I do pay attention when I see higher ratings there.

There was, in fact, one essential oils company whose oils I thought looked to be very high quality, but their personal care items were loaded with lots of toxic chemicals.

Also note, if you are used to Young Living or doTERRA oils, Rocky Mountain Oils carries oil blends that are comparable to Young Living and doTERRA blends.

There are other good companies out there.  However, I think that there are fewer “excellent” companies than I originally thought when I started all of this evaluation.

What About Other Companies?

I often receive inquiries asking me what I think about other essential oils companies.

Please read this post on Essential Oils Testing and Quality and this report on 10 Things You Need to Know About Essential Oils to see if a brand measures up.

There are more and more companies out there on a daily basis. It truly seems that every day there is a new company selling essential oils and many are making claims that they are the “only pure oils out there” – which is not true.  My standards are high. I don’t just want a company that says they are pure–when deciding where to buy essential oils, I want to make SURE I’m getting purity. And more.

This post on Pure Essential Oil Testing should be of help too for evaluating any company that you wish to consider.

Free Essential Oils Report

Also, if you go and grab my Free Report on 10 Things to Know About Essential Oils Before You Buy, you will not only get more myth-busting essential oils information, but you’ll get access to my VIP newsletter as well–complete with updates, great healthy living offers, of course new posts on essential oils, and more.

10 things you need to know about essential oils report in ipad

What are your thoughts?
Please let me know in the comments.

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6,975 Comments

  1. Hi,

    Can you look into Stillpoint Aromatics? They seems to have very good quality EOS. Also, does RMO only uses first distillation oils? I have trouble finding potency reviews of EOS brands, as I have read good stuff about RMO, I have also read people finding the smell not as potent as other brands. A girlfriend of mine actually purchased RMO last year (maybe beginning of 2018 or mid 2017) and find it not very potent from smelling the EOS.

    Thanks, your opinion si much appreciated.

    1. Hi there. Sorry for the delay–I’ve been swamped here. Yes I am going to revisit this topic soon so stay tuned–you can subscribe to updates here: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/

      As for distillation that is a complicated topic as you can see — it really seems to only apply to 1-2 oils and there are differing thoughts on that in the industry. Happy to help w/ any other questions. What other brands have you tried?

  2. For rocky mountain oils do you use the organic ones or the nonorganic? (looking at the website its $165~ for the organic kit vs the regular kit at ~$25) just wondering about quality when it comes to their organic essial kit vs essential kit (implying nonorganic) but does this mean pesticides were used or that they are not as “good”

    1. Hi there – first note that there are slightly different oils offered in each kit, but more importantly the Essential Kit is 5 ml bottles and the Organic one is 15. You might want to subscribe here for updates on this series: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
      The company actually tests for pesticides–I would suspect that they were not used but they are not certified organic so if that is important to you then the organic is a better choice. Hope that helps!

  3. Thank you for your review. I have been hearing so much about essential oils lately, and I didn’t know which brand to trust. You seem as though you did much due diligence, and for that, I am grateful!!! I’m going to try them out, and see what how it goes!

  4. Just came across your research while doing my own. Wondering what your thoughts might be about a company I came across called Purify Skin Therapy?

    Appreciate your journey and knowledge you have shared.

    1. Hi there. I’m so sorry for the delay. A lot of comments about oils especially came in and required a lot of time to consider and respond to. I recommend using the information in this post to evaluate them and I might add more later. Companies can also change their procedures over time. I have seen that often. Hope that helps!

      https://wholenewmom.com/pure-essential-oils-testing/

  5. I have a company I think you’d enjoy researching it’s been doing EOs since 1981, and has since moved into skincare. I promise not to ask you to join up! 🙂

  6. Thank you!!! I have had so much confusion with oils! I love them and know they work in incredible ways but like you needed to know what the best oil for best price is. I used Rock Mtn Oils a couple of years ago but have since changed to a “better oil” co. I will now be switching back gladly. I really apriciate all the time and research!

    1. Thank you so much! Ingestion is about purity–and of course being very careful about doing so — personally I don’t recommend ingestion unless one is under the care of a physician or aromatherapist–preferably one who is trained in medicine. But here is where you can see about their purity. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/pure-essential-oils-testing/

      I do plan to revisit this whole topic down the road so feel free to sign up here for updates: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/

      There is a free oil offer here: https://wholenewmom.com/whole-new-mom-healthy-living-deals/

      Thanks for reading!

  7. Love this series! Thank you for sharing! It’s been very helpful, unbiased, and has the research and facts to back it all!

  8. Hi! I am brand new into my EO research and found your articles very helpful. It’s hard to find an unbiased opinion on the internet and it was nice to see all of the qualities broken down for those of us who are new to it so we know what to look for. I was wondering if you had any articles/info on use of EOs with pregnancy? I looked up on the RM website, but couldn’t find anything. Thanks so much!!

  9. Great articles. I have always purchased my oils from RMO, but recently I have had friends with YL and D trying to get me interested in their products. So began my research and came across your article. Thank you, your article just help to support what I already knew deep down. I’ll keep with RMO.
    Sincerely,
    Mechelle

  10. Have you heard of Revive? What is your opinion on this brand? Someone else write a similar article but she recommended Revive.

      1. Hi I have read the comments and would really love your opinion on this company. It is called Gurunanda.. Found it just recently and bought their oils and then came across your opinion on oils. Would love to know what you think of this company. Thank you

  11. Adrienne
    Just to revisit Ingestion of EO’s. If i understood your writings correctly and if i did not I apologize in advance ,once upon a time you did ingest but now you do not. My bottle of Oregeno oil from Natural Factors one of largest and trusted supplement co in Canada says right on it to ingest a few drops under the tongue and some Thyme on Doterra website says can ingest couple of drops in a Vcap. But then in a reply i saw to one of comments U mention that U r now against ingest but the only evidence that U seemed to use as back up is one verbal opinion of one of the Research Guys at Rockymountain. Is it possible for U to clarify here and also put up some scientific evidence one way or another and Ur own historical evolution in this opinion that u now seem to have. With grateful thanks from another seeker of Truth….

    1. Hi there. Yes, when I first started using essential oils, I didn’t know enough about the dangers of internal use of essential oils. I was listening to the larger companies that advocate for heavier internal use. As I learned more, I felt that it wasn’t a good idea.

      There are specifications for using essential oils internally–that would apply to more than using them as a flavoring. I hope that helps.

  12. Hello, I have a question, how come their oils are not recommended to take internally? If RMO are so pure why can’t I use their lavender oil in my recipes or the peppermint oil in my water and rosemary etc etc. I’m confused, they are pure but not safe?

    1. A lot of companies say this since it can be very problematic if you take oils internally. You should not use essential oils in your water since oil and water don’t mix and you can damage your mucous membranes. Essential oils are very very strong and need to be used carefully and if you want to use them internally you should be under the care of a health care practitioner or aromatherapist who ideally has medical training.

  13. Though I’m not new to the ideas of essential oils, like you at the beginning of your journey I had no idea how big the industry had gotten! I started out with NOW because it was just right there in the grocery store. I wanted to start growing my hair and turned to essential oils for help. Before long, I started seeing other labels and started to get curious. Next thing I know, a very close friend of mine tried to get me into YL. I watched their videos and for some reason didn’t feel settled. I asked my father who told me to look up their legal issue and noticed it was a battle between them and doTerra (which is the company my mother turned down after hearing about their issues). I found out about all this right after the Johnson&Johnson issue and felt completely hopeless in trying to live a more natural, eco-friendly life. I haven’t given up on essential oils exactly, but I’m near the end of my rope with companies not taking our health or even lives into consideration when making their profit. One thing I can’t stand is an inconsistent/ hypocritical blogger and I truly do NOT believe you are. You’ve sparked hope in me thanks to your research and I will continue to read more about this and check out Rocky Mountain (whom I’d never heard of before you). Thank you for your openness and willingness to share; though I’m not 100% settled, I’m no longer as discouraged as I once was!

    1. It is really a lot bigger now! Out of control almost really! Do you mean the baby powder issue? There have been several “issues”.

      I appreciate your confidence and hope to dig back into this topic soon!

  14. Thanks for writing this article! I’ve been looking for more comprehensive research on choosing an essential oil company and this has been very helpful indeed. I’m wondering, though, if you’ve looked into Mountain Rose Herbs or Living Libations? These are the 2 that I’ve narrowed down to, but would love any feedback. I’ve really loved LL’s products, but have definitely found them on the more expensive side. I’m not informed enough to know if it’s because of their quality/sourcing or if oils are just more expensive coming from Canada…? Anyway, appreciate any comments and will definitely looking into RMO. =)

    1. Hi there! You are so welcome. I did look at both of them. For various reasons I didn’t go with them. Of course companies can change over the years. I hope to revisit this but fairly recently MRH wasn’t testing oils and ended up finding a number that were adulterated. I would suspect that they are testing them now but I haven’t gone back to find out the details. You can see my guidelines here: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/pure-essential-oils-testing/

      There was some other stuff going on w/ MRH as well – more on the corporate level than w/ the EOs. I’m sorry but am just not comfortable.

  15. I am curious if you also checked out Melaleuca during your research.
    I believe it’s the oldest US essential oils company … 33 years.
    I would be very interested in your findings and thoughts.

    1. Hi there. I didn’t at first but considered them later. I didn’t spend much time looking, however, when I found that they use artificial colors and fragrances in quite a few of their products. I don’t know that they are the oldest US essential oils company–possibly? But if so, I think that tea tree oil is the only thing they had for a very long time. Thanks for reading!

    1. Hi again. I would have to go back through my notes–but keep in mind that companies change what they are doing all the time. I can say that I liked NAN when I first went with them–I was their first affiliate. I was RMO’s first as well. They have only continued to improve their testing processes, etc. There are other good companies out there but I am really pleased with their scents and their blends, their customer service, and free shipping and savings. I have tested a good number of other companies and I am very happy. I do hope to revisit the whole topic again in the future when I can, but things are just nuts here and things on the internet are hard too with all kinds of things changing. Blogging has gotten a whole lot more complicated in some niches in recent days.

      Hope that helps!

  16. Hey!! I just read your series on EO and it was so awesome!! I WANT TO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HONEST AND WELL ROUNDED/ EDUCATED/ UNBIASED. I am also a skeptic so I appreciate you being upfront about your journey and admitting updates.

    So I finally got suckered into EOs— I thought they were BS for the first couple years I’ve heard about them but after having a sinus infection my friend “swore” this EO blend would help I figured “I feel crappy enough why not?” Welllllll it knocked it out overnight! I was amazed! So of course I caved and I literally just purchased my YL starter kit.

    But I do have a couple of other questions:

    What kind of plastic is recommended w/ EOs? Can I get any kind of diffuser or only YL?

    Where do I get rollers?

    Is there any particular oil I can use to scent/ purify the air in my home? I was using BBB Wallflowers until I heard how awful those are for you but I really like keeping my home “scented”. Do they even make any oils for that?

    Do you recommend EO to help clean your home? i.e. Thieves

    1. Hello there – thanks so much! You are so welcome. I spend way too much time researching often but it means a ton to be appreciated. 🙂

      You want high quality plastic–just not junk. The diffusers on the site of the company that I recommend are all fine. Of course Young Living isn’t the only company that has diffusers that are made from decent plastic.

      There are rollers available on their site as well and you can find them elsewhere too. I just made up a blend myself today and have several rollers on hand for us to use when needed.

      As for purification, you could do all kinds of things but I like this blend: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/homemade-purify-essential-oil-blend/ So much better than artificial stuff.

      As for cleaning, a lot of people like the Thieves blend – this is a DIY version. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/homemade-anti-bacterial-thieves-essential-oil-blend/

      There are other blends that would be great as well–the company that I went with has a blend called Loads of Fun that is supposed to be great for cleaning too. Hope that helps!

  17. Wow! You worked hard to discover which oil company you believe is the best and I greatly appreciate it. I started with Doterra and now buy Edens Garden oils. The company seems to fit the 7 things oil companies should have blog. Plus they have 3rd party testing reports available and free, fast shipping. I’m curious what happened in your research to keep you from making them your number one choice? Thanks again for all your hard work.

  18. Hi thanks for ALL the research on EO’s. Curious why you did not look into oils from Melaleuca?
    If you did what are your thoughts?

    1. Hi there. I didn’t look much b/c the company uses artificial colors and fragrances in quite a few of their products and that is disconcerting to me. Hope that helps!