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,
Thanks for the great series of posts! I became interested in EOs a few months ago and am enjoying using them. I myself have moved on from doTerra. I was quite disappointed with their customer service (and let them know this) and have been looking for another company because I still don’t know if I’m happy with the one I’m currently using. I plan to send you an email if that’s okay! Thanks for all of your hard work 🙂
Thanks – yes, you can but I am swamped so please be patient :).
I wanted to thank you for taking your time out of your personal life to inform us. I love that I looked up YL vs DT and your blog popped up. What a blessing. I am sorry people were getting ugly with you, that makes me sad. I see stuff all the time where people attack others. I had a fb post that people were going crazy on me and I stood my ground, I did my research I knew what I was talking about. They worked for be pharm so of course they were going to hate. Good job great info and I love your other posts too ie, heavy metals.
Thank you so much Sara. That means a lot. I hope to see you around again – did you see the free meal plan offer in my sidebar for signing up for my newsletter? Keep standing up for the truth!
Thank you so much Adrienne for your extensive research into the essential oils industry in the U.S. I have been researching the use of essential oils in keeping one’s hot tub sparkling clean and pure. So far the recommendations I’ve come across are Geranium, Thieves & Lemon. Native American doesn’t carry Thieves but I’m sticking with them based on the results of your exhaustive search. Thank you for your efforts, Michael
Native American has Immune Strength which is very close. Or you could make your own :). https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/homemade-anti-bacterial-thieves-essential-oil-blend/
Hi Adrienne,
I came to your blog while researching essential oils and after reading your study into essential oils, I just wanted to say thank you. I currently use Young Living oils and enjoy them but have never actually compared them to others. I am definitely open to trying oils from a different company and am looking forward to trying oils from Native American Nutritionals and comparing them! I usually spend a lot of time researching for hours and hours and you did that for me….so thanks again, I appreciate all of the work that you have done! As a Holistic Health practitioner, I also enjoy the articles on your blog and share your focus on natural health so I’m looking forward to visiting your blog regularly.
Thanks and welcome! Make sure to subscribe – more good stuff coming :). https://mad.ly/signups/97092/join
What do you think about Bulk Apothecary. I see that they are advertised on your site so I’m curious. Thank you.
I don’t use them for oils. You might want to read this: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I first saw you site when I Googled EssentiaL Oils. I was skeptical at first, so many “investigators” are really company shills, but became convinced of your sincerity as I read on. I am typically not into alternative therapies but I do think there is some credibility to many of them. I thought I’d look into aromatherapy just for energy and mental health “tune-ups”. I may give your products a try and will let you know if I see any effects. Re: your detractors, I have spent over 40 years with clinical laboratory product manufacturers and in my experience such individuals often have a biased perspective because of their employment and/or have egos that place them above the “little people”. Hence the ad hominem attacks. Another clarification. The information you were given regarding shipping fees is most likely completely bogus. I have worked for a number of corporations that have high shipping volumes. Rather than business having to pay higher shipping costs the opposite is true. The ones I worked for got discounts substantial discounts, as high as 70%. They mark up shipping to the customer to increase profits. I believe you are sincere so keep up the good work. And I feel there’s nothing wrong with making an honest profit for honest work…as long as you are transparent about your personal benefit. Wishing the best for you and your family. Allen Berry
Thank you so much Allen. I really appreciate your kind words. Hope to see you around again. :).
Great site and love the posts about the oils and companies.
Question ~ I have been with doTerra since August, but there are products I am not fond of, some I won’t use and some that just don’t work, for me. I know everyone is different so I have stuck with doTerra and keep trying. Well, I just met a gal who is a YL rep and her and I actually shared a room on a cruise (for blogging convention) and got to talking. She told me all about her company and I told her about mine. After the cruise I did more research and think I want to switch to YL. So, I googled and found you. Now, I am confused as all get out 😉 LOL
If you had to choose between YL and doTerra.. what would it be and why? (If they were the only 2 out there)
🙂
Yikes. I don’t know. Why do you need to stick with either? Do Native American and if you must sell something sell Lilla Rose or Miessence or Norwex – companies without all this “hoo ha”. I am pretty confused about both of them and just don’t know what to think.
Thanks for your reply. There are iffy things in both DT and YL. I am looking at Rocky Mountain a bit more. I have heard of, and did a product review of the Miessence and did like it but at the time they didn’t offer what they do now. I am so tired of the way some direct sales companies run their businesses and am ready to be done with them all. I would rather just be an affiliate and promote how and when I want and not worry about quota’s, special members only pricing and fees, being slapped for wanting to join or belong to or shop other companies, etc.
Thanks for your help 🙂
Sheila
What did you happen to review w/ Miessence?
I don’t care for many of them but Miessence and Lilla Rose are different in how they do business. Totally different in my humble opinion. Look forward to hearing from you! They have both worked out nicely for me.
Hi,
I stumbled across your posts in my search for where to start with essential oils and appreciate all of the time and effort that must have gone in to all of this research! So thank you for that!
I was however, a little surprised when I linked through to the Native American Nutritionals website as it looked incredibly familiar to another site I was already looking through, Rocky Mountain Oils at http://www.rockymountainoils.com. Everything is exactly the same, they offer the same products etc. I really didn’t know what to make of it so I thought I would ask if anyone knew if they were the same company operating under separate names (??) though that makes little sense to me.
Thanks so much!
Sorry for the delay – they were going to merge but ended up not but they still carry the same oils. OF course I would love it if you would buy NAN if you buy either (thru my site) as it helps keep my blog running – thanks!
I have been in this search for a while myself – thanks so much for doing so much work and sharing it with us! I’m so glad I live in America and have access to all of this information and products! I look forward to more on essential oils from you including uses, testimonials and recipes!
Hello Adrienne,
Kuddos to you for compiling this information. I am the newest and not even scratch the surface with even venturing about oils. It started a several months ago when I have many family members among which is my mother having a lot of health issues- diabetics, HB, etc. The energetic mother I know, is so fatigue and unhappy with her condition. We have tried western medicine and it has been a point of argument with my sister who is heading to pre-med. I have mention that there are other natural ways which she gave me the shrug, what do I know, I am not the one going to med school. Needless to say, my mother was getting worse to the point she almost had a stroke, face swelling up, etc. I had enough and took her to a place that does not deal with medicine but natural ways- which I knew all along would work- after so much reading. My mom is getting better with natural methods. So, now my sister is listening on trying alternative ways rather than taking pills. Okay, before I go on a long stride elsewhere. I want to first, thank you for all your hard work. So I want to remain in the natural realm not just for my mother but my friends are starting to experience other issues.
I just need some help or orientation perhaps from you or other experience bloggers that can help me to learn more about oils. Most likely, I will go with your recommendation of company choice. So I see you posted a book, but I am more interested in taking courses, I did look into jade shuts school, phew… $500, I am not interested in doing this for a living, I just want to know enough to mix and get familiar with the terms, oils what they do, etc. I want to help my mom, since I say I only have one. I do not mind paying for courses on-line, but I think $500 is too stip.
I take suggestion on books as well, Kinda think about it, I will need it for future reference.
Anyways, look forward to your response.
Native American has a book and there is a book on my Thieves giveaway if you search for it. I wouldn’t do $500 for a course. I paid a lot for an herbalist course and I am regretting it now. Sigh.