Where to Buy the Best Essential Oils
This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.
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.
I am new to essential oils and have been on every website and have read every article and opened every book I can find, I have a researching problem. This series was great and such a huge help for me, I am on a mission to treat my family of ADHD and get them off the drugs and more dugs that Dr’s insist on giving. I’ve had enough as a wife and mom. There has got to be a better fix to ADHD than pills. This was an amazing series, you were very thoughtful and obviously had done the research. Everywhere I turned I was being pointed in the direction of doTERRA or Young Living, but something just didn’t work with me, even with my limited knowledge. This series was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for your dedication to see this to the end. I would love to hear your thoughts on ADHD and essential oils
Thank you! What would you like to know. i can try to help but I suspect that more than oils would be a good idea.
Thank so much for all your hard work. I was ready to contact a YL rep and now I will going with Native American Nutritionals and ordering from you. My family and I are making big changes and we’re so close to being toxin free in our home/food/medicines that I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am not GMO free though…and that’s going to take some work. Baby steps. I’m struggling with my makeup but that’s a problem for another day. My reason for wanting oils right now is because of pain in my hands (I’m 32 and mother of three.) I HAVE to be able to use my hands. After I do some research on what I need I plan on ordering through your site. Thank you so much. After I do my heavy metal detox on everyone I will contacting you. Do you know of any oils that help with that?
What is the struggle w/ your makeup if I might ask. Are you needing oils for the pain? Is it arthritis do you think?
Thanks for all the information! You have saved me a lot of time. Can you tell me some mixtures you have used with your Aspergers child? We have a 13 year old son with Aspergers. Would love more info from you. Thanks again.
I tried the serenity and hope to get the grounding. And of course my DIY Thieves oil (on the blog). If you tell me your issues maybe I can give more help but pls be patient. I am swamped. My son is the same age and I am working w/ a new practitioner and calling someone else. Maybe you might be interested.
Hello! Just wondering what your thought on aura cacia are? I may have missed it, but didn’t seem to see them specifically addressed. I have used them for over a decade and always order from them versus just off the shelf, in case they had been sitting there for awhile. I love their oils and the fact that they have always been above board in their dealings. Your thoughts would be appreciated!
I’m confused about them. I am pretty sure they talked about using experts and I don’t care for that. Now I can’t find the info. Thanks!
Adrienne,
This is not the first time you’ve mentioned “experts” in this context. Could you explain what you mean, please? I vote no, absolutely, on Aura Cacia, buy what’s your beef with experts? All these companies have experts and I would think we’d be glad for it. Mr. Dean himself is an expert. I don’t get it.
Thanks again, dear, for your great report.
Hi. I am pretty sure I talked about them in the posts- but maybe not? maybe just in this post? There are some (not too many) oils experts that purchase the oils and sell them to companies. So most oils are coming from the same places. According to what I have heard, they sometimes alter the oils by heating, or whatever, (blending, etc.) to get the desired result. I would prefer to not have that. Hope that helps. It means a middleman – not someone who knows a lot :). https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
Sounds to me like you really did your homework with an open mind. Your report appears to be unbiased and very informative. I am very new to the oil world, but I am extremely interested!!
Thanks so much and welcome!
Are native American Nutritionals still, in your opinion, the best essential oils out there?
I can’t say if they are the best but they are still my choice. The owner of the company says that there are maybe 5% of all companies that he could consider to be good quality – I appreciate that he has a balanced look at his competition.
Thank you, Adrienne, and all, for doing so much legwork for me! I’m new to EO, and I needed some help knowing where to start. 😀
Thanks and welcome!!! Hope you signed up for my email feed and newsletter to keep in touch – I really appreciate it!
Hi, I am just getting into essential oils and recently bought 4 different oils from Aura Cacia brand. I had no idea about the quality of the oils or that there would be any difference. Are the Aura Cacia oils ones that you would consider “too good/cheap to be true?”
I haven’t cared for them and I think I read that they are bought from experts which I don’t care for but now I can’t find that information. Sorry so late – I’ve been swamped!
I’m sorry I can’t read all 1000+ comments and admit that I have only skimmed your 7 pages of post before I got to this last “finale” page for the best of the best… I will certainly order a sample from Native American Nutritionals, since it is so highly recommended. For the past years, I’ve only been buying oils from Ananda Apothecary. Ananda uses the term, “therapeutic grade,” which I know is just marketing, but I have learned a lot about essential oils just by reading the site. Did you check out Ananda, by any chance? What do you think of them? They are probably just a middleman, but I love the Super Immune blend.
I did. There are some comments here. There were a number of reasons I didn’t go with them. Thanks!
Have you ever tried NYR Organic essential oils? NYR is how Neal’s Yard Remedies is known in the U.S. They have been in the organic/essential oil industry since the early 80’s and source all ingreds from native countries. I absolutely love their oils. though I can’t compare with YL or DT personaly, only some store bought brands.
I haven’t. You could check out this post to see how they measure up: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/