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.
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.
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 Young Living and doTERRA. So I started contacting a bunch of other essential oils companies and asked a lot of questions.
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 him for a few hours, which turned into many hours after that, and I felt that he really knew his stuff.
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, and 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 (only because 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.)
Why I Chose Rocky Mountain Oils
Please note: since this series was written, Rocky Mountain Oils purchased Native American Nutritionals. Native American Nutritionals was the original company, then the two companies had a partnership. Then Rocky Mountain Oils (RMO) purchased NAN. I am even more confident in the quality of oils now that this all has taken place.
Here are some of the qualities that make Rocky Mountain Oils a solid place to buy your essential oils from.
1. Experience
The owner of Native American Nutritionals 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 Oils – all 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 felt they had to make some changes to put a higher 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
Rocky Mountain Oils offers Free Shipping domestically in the U.S. and reasonable shipping internationally, with free shipping over $199.
10. No Adulterating
Oils are not heated, mixed with anything else, or adulterated in any way.
Unless declared on the label, the oils are pure. The only things added would be a carrier oil to make the oil or blend easier to use right out of the bottle.
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 pure and not just a song and dance.
More Essential Oils Posts
Here are other posts that you might want to check out in this series on essential oils.
Hi Adrienne. It has been very interesting to read your blog on essential oils. I found your blog researching for reviews of dõTerra essential oils. I purchased the Slim & Sassy and thought it was a pretty good product and was thinking about doing the MLM but realized that I didn’t know much about essential oils so thought I should do some research on it.
I will say that before reading your blog I started having some questions about dõTerra products as it seemed that from a consumer standpoint info about the product was not available on there site.
Long story short, I appreciate your research and looking forward to finding out more about essential oils. I will be subscribing to your blog.
I have been ready the responses to your blog, but to be honest, it just makes my head spin. You seem to be above board with your info. Thank you for all of the research you have done. I can’t even imagine all the time it has taken you to do it.
Thanks and welcome Nancy. It was a ton. I would love to do more but I got so overwhelmed. Take care :).
Thank you so much for all of the valuable info here. I’ve been coming back to this post for a few weeks now and have made it through ALL of the comments!
In a previous comment you mentioned that you’d found another company that looked promising, but you didn’t pursue it because the co. focused on the “energy” of the oils, etc. I would be interested in something like that; would you mind sharing which company that was so that I can do a bit more digging on them?
Also, I’ve read comments where folks have discussed dismissing a company because the oils weren’t produced or distilled in a “food grade facility.” What’s the deal with this? Is that really a deal breaker? Wouldn’t location (near the plant) and type of processing (non solvent, etc.) be the important factors?
Thanks again–this series is fantastic!
I’m forgetting their name now. NAN will talk about it just not as much.
Yes, I think other things are more important. I just smelled my MRH tea tree compared to NAN’s melaleuca. Different oils a little bit (a;ternifolia vs. quinquinervera) but I do think the smell of NAN’s is superior. I would have to dive into this a lot more and just can’t right now. Thanks!
Thank you sooooo much for all your ressearch ! I was just on the fence about signing up with doterra and your info confirmed that I shouldn’t…..good catch ! Look forward to more interesting posts.
Thanks so much! Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been so swamped and am trying to catch up.
I was wondering if you have heard of, investigated, and/or reviewed Eden’s Garden Essential Oils? I am rather new at using oils.
Please check out this post. I did research them and wasn’t thrilled but I am so swamped right now. This post might be helpful to ask them questions. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
Thank you for putting this together. This really help beginners like me. Are the Native American Nutritionals EO safe for internal use? Like, can you add it to a lip balm recipe? I have heard of other companies that their EO can be ingested. Long before I became interested in EO, I read that it should
(EO) never be ingested. So now, I am confused.
Thank you,
The oils that are typically used internally would be fine doing so w/ theirs. Yes, you can use it in a lip balm. There are some groups who say you never shd do it. In my opinion (and that is shared by NAN, YL and DT), that is too strict. They are kind of like the “safe police”. I think you can be and shd be careful. Anyhow, I choose to use internally with caution and not to the level that DT and Young Living do. I covered that in one of my posts -thanks! Of course, this isn’t medical advise and you should talk w/ your physician if you have concerns.
Hi and thank you for putting this together!
I am a member of YL, and got very irritated about their high shipping cost and their marketing tactics, like constantly pushing you to buy more and more.
After reading your article I was very enthusiastic about NAN. I placed a bit order. And got very disappointment when I got the oils. I did not realized they are already diluted. This makes them very expensive. When I buy YL oils they are a little more expensive then NAN. But they are neat, and when I dilute them myself, I get a lot more oil, making them a greater value for the money. So, I am back at square one (less the money I waited on NAN).
Just wanted to share my experience in hope to help other people to avoid the same mistake I did.
You can get the undiluted from NAN. Perhaps you missed that on their site? I would contact them and see what they can do. Sorry this is late . Just let them know I responded late to you due to my being swamped and maybe they can assist in some way. A lot of their customers want the pre-blended b/c they don’t want to use the oils straight. I typically buy mine NEAT. I hope that helps.
Okay I just want to be sure I understand. I’m learning that these oils are very potent which I didn’t know before. So the ones that are already mixed with coconut oil…can I apply those safely without mixing them further? And the ones that don’t have the coconut oil already mixed…do I need to mix something with them for safety? And is my own coconut oil that I cook with okay to mix as a carrier oil? I’m sorry if you answered this, I just didn’t quite understand. Thanks
Safety is up to you, basically, but in general you should be fine. I just can’t give medical advice and you could have a reaction if you are sensitive. You can use whatever oil you like. The oil companies use the FCO b/c it is shelf stable. Solid coconut oil is too but it is harder to use.
Hi there, my name is Jacqueline…I’m pretty new to the EO world. I stumbled across your 7 part blog series while researching the other day, and let me just say, I looked no further. I trusted everything you said and appreciated your extensive, thorough research. You know I was totally naive to the fact that these companies..or any company for that matter…lie and manipulate their products. I guess I’m too trusting. But because of your research, I went with Native American Nutritionals for my oils…through your blog page too so make sure you get that commission.;-)
I did have a few questions for you that I don’t remember in your research. The term “neat” when referring to how the oil is mixed? I just happened to see a customer review on the NAN website, and realized that there were different options to most of their oils. She said the neat option is more pure and the other is already mixed with coconut oil, which she didn’t like. Well the neat ones were too expensive for me, so I just stayed with the coconut version. ( when you say you dropped a lot of money on these oils, I think I underestimated how much that could really be…and I knew they were expensive before).
But my question is are these coconut versions still of good quality from NAN, And will I have to mix them with something else or can I just apply them straight out of the bottle since they seem to have a carrier oil already mixed in. Also, some oils I bought seemed to be the “neat” version, so can I just mix them with coconut oil or grape seed oil… Or what do you recommend? I was gonna buy the coconut oil from NAN, but my cart was already so full, I thought I could use something else I had at home. I did get their book that supposedly tells how to use all their oils, but if there is a better source out there I would love a recommendation. Anyway, thank you for all your hard work…I’m so excited to bring more alternative health to my family and look forward to reading your blog.
You are too kind!
Neat means that it is just the EO – no carrier oil. There were apparently many customers who wanted it that way so they did it. They are open to changing that. They want convenience for not having to mix their own oils. You can do as you wish just as you would w/ any other oil company. I am trying to figure out what book, but there is one on my Thieves giveaway and there is another if you look up Healing Intelligence on my blog. I will try to put a post together soon.
Have you ever heard of Genesis PURE essential oils? They were just launched last month. They are USDA Certified Organic. What does that term indicate based upon the research you have done?
Sorry, but I haven’t heard of them. Organic cert is one thing that could be considered to be important. Check out my post on GC/MS testing to see other things I think are important. Thanks!
A funny thing… your pick and Rocky Mountain Oils seem to be identical??? Same bottle, label, webpage design, price and … ? Bogus!
(Link deleted by Whole New Mom due to it not working anymore)
or
https://www.rockymountainoils.com/lavender-organic-bulgaria-lavandula-angustifolia.htm
They merged. I believe I mentioned that in the post. Thanks :).
Hi Adrienne,
Thank you for taking the time to do all the homework on EOs. You articles are helpful and have helped me make my choice!! We will go will Native Naturals. Have you found a diffuser that you love? Brand and model please if so!
Thank you:) look fwd to hearing back from you.
Cassie
They are picky about them and have one on their site – thanks!