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,
I appreciate so all the research you have done. I was just introduced to the concept of Essential oils at a YL class last night. I had my “palm read” or the “hand test” done while there. It told me that 26 things were out of balance and that 22 of them could be impacted with cistus. However, I cannot find this at Native American Nutritionals. Is there something similar they sell that I just can’t find because I am new to all of this?
I will ask – thanks!
I want to thank you for this information. Very interesting. I look forward to reading more and I will be checking into Native American Nutritionals. Thanks for all your hours of research.
Thanks much!
Adrienne,
Thank you so much for your reply about becoming a NAN affiliate. Yes, I do have a website–I blog about Haiti adoption (not a health blog…). Will that still work? Even though i am “small time”, I do have regular readers from all over. I am happy to provide more specifics and details.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
http://www.haitiloveadoption.blogspot.com
I heard they aren’t accepting many affiliates right now – I guess they are at a standstill. Sorry to be so late – I’m swamped!
I’ have Fibromyalgia (31 yrs now) and my body does not like any kind of RX. If there is a bad side effect, I will have it. I’ have always treated myself thru suppliments and diet -and that more than 4-letter word, exercise. I’ve done ok until the last yr or so. Now I’m new to the EO world, just buying into the fact that the right oils for the right applications work. I have a very dear friend who is with YL that helped me with leg cramps with oils. That really started me looking at, and wondering about, EO’s ~ knowing that not all things are not created (mfg) equal. I do not like MLM companies because of requirements of minimum orders, etc…but going to the health food store is very difficult. With that said, I do sign up with MLM companies (I am a distributor for a nutrional company and have been for 15 yrs) only if I believe in the products so that I have direct access to products, teaching aides, etc not to make a buck. I decided a few weeks ago to sign up with YL. Gut feeling kept nagging me to do more research on the different companies.
The result~ I found you! What a blessing this series on EO has been for me.
I’m not signing with YL until I’ve tried NAN. As for that other company, the one that the chemist “doesn’t” work for, no way I will spend money on them even if you said they were your top choice. That person that you had defend yourself from (which I’m glad that you did!) must know they have something to hide to be that hateful and negative to you. I’m going to try to find your FB page and website to follow you. So, with all that said, THANK YOU! I’m very excited to read more that you have written and researched.
Be blessed, M
So sorry I didn’t approve this ’til now – I’ve been swamped and your comment was lost in a pile! Thanks so much!
Surprised you did not go to the SOURCE! Try Liberty Naturals!
Not sure what you mean – they are the source for the best oils? Please clarify. Thanks!
I was wondering if you included Mountain Rose in your research?? I saw that you had a MR essential oil pictured with the other brands but I didn’t read any data about that company. Do you know how they would compare to your top pick?
I put more info in the first post – hope it’s helpful. I’ve been swamped and just not sure what to think yet.
I’m so sorry you didn’t consider Primavera or Shirley Price essential oils. But, I know they aren’t as easy to come by unless you have a source connected to Europe. I KNOW they are excellent oils with extremely high standards…there is no question in my mind they are high quality oils.
Adrienne,
I LOVE this series of posts! Thank you so much for your months of dedicated research. It sure does help someone like me who has only been reading up on EO’s for a couple months. I would love to learn about how to become an affiliate with NAN. I want to help my family and friends live healthier lives using the best quality EO’s. Thanks so much!
You can become an affiliate if you have a blog. Do you? Thanks!
I know I’m late to the party, but found your blog and this series after attending a “make & take” YL party. I ended up paying for the products made but the only other thing these ladies were selling was the $150 membership kit. Thanks but no thanks, if I have to spend that much just to be able to buy anything I’m not interested. Some of their oil blends piqued my interest so I searched for comparable oils. I just wanted to thank you for all this research and information. Wow! You saved this busy homeschooling mom of six many precious hours of time. Thank you so much! As we have food allergies and asthma in some of our children, your blog is bookmarked!
Thank you so much!!!
Adrienne,
Wow, I am tired from reading through all of your information on essential oils. 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to do all of this research! What a great FREE resource for all of us who are looking into using essential oils! I admire you for answering all of your comments….good and bad. Thanks for not letting the negative people get to you! I will be ordering from Native American Nutritionals and will make sure I go through your website! I signed up for your blog updates. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much!!! Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been swamped!