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.
I’m researching essential oils; your site and series came up via Internet search. Thanks for the time and energy you put in to this and for the good information.
Thanks so much!!
Hi Adrienne,
First, thank you for all of your research into essential oils – what a wealth of knowledge you’ve been to so many who are searching for answers about this field!
Second, just placed my first order with NAN (sadly I hit ‘order’ before leaving a comment referring them that I became a customer b/c of you- I will be going back and letting them know though :-). I spent days combing the internet; over their website as well as yours in making my decision. I am so excited to begin our family’s journey into this amazing world of healing and natural living!
Third, I read that NAN and RMO have now merged and combined their business. My question comes in the nature of ordering – does it make a difference who I order my EO from?? If they are merged does that mean that the same practices for delivering high quality oils are the same between both of these companies?? I’ve seen a couple of ‘YouTube’ videos from Mr. Dean but the hosting site doesn’t refer to NAN, but rather RMO so I was a little confused at who he represents. I noticed that RMO had discounts on some oils that NAN didn’t yet their websites are almost identical. RMO offers more ‘free’ education that I could see. Just wanting to make sure if I choose to order from either of these companies I am getting ‘basically’ the same thing? Thanks so much!
Hi Ruth. This is from the owner of Native American:
Hi, Could you tell me something about Aura Cacia as I can order their oils thru our coop. Do you know if they are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd distilled? I have heavy metal toxicity poisoning an am going to start chelation next month. My lead levels are off the chart and I have several others that are very high, mercury is not one of them however. I have read that you can use oils for detox/chelation along with distilled water but it takes longer than intravenous chelation. What is your recommendation?
I don’t know. In all humble honesty, this has become really overwhelming for me. I hope to write a post for readers so that they can call the companies and ask them what they do. And keep in mind that some will not respond truthfully likely -that is to be expected when one is trying to make money and I have had that happen to me w/ numerous companies (not talking about oils companies -just companies and people in general). I am not saying that about Aura Cacia but we need to keep in mind that you not only need to get the info you want from a company but you need to trust them as well.
I don’t have a recommendation on chelation but I do sell zeolite which I have been very very pleased with. And cilantro is supposed to be good as well. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/could-you-have-heavy-metal-poisoning-and-not-know-it-part-one/ Not medical advice, of course – I have just read and heard a lot about cilantro.
Thanks so much for all the work you did researching essential oils providers. I found your blog while searching for “essential oils remedies for back pain.” TheHippyHomemaker.com posted a link to your series on the best essential oils company. After I started reading, I couldn’t stop until I read the entire series. You saved me a lot of work! Thank you!
I visited the Native American Nutritionals website and really like what I saw. Since your research was completed last year, HAVE YOU VIEWS ABOUT THIS COMPANY CHANGED ANY?
The only oils I have previously purchased have been from YL. I like their educational support, and have been intrigued with the Vita Flex and Raindrop therapies they promote. I have seen the effectiveness of these treatments on my wife. But the MLM aspect of the business and Mr. Young’s personal history have kept me from fully embracing YL.
I hope I am as pleased with the Native American Nutritionals as you were when recommending this company. At this point, I plan to continue using the Vita Flex and Raindrop techniques with the NAN oils.
Again, I really appreciate the great service you provided with your research. I regret that you had to suffer some verbal abuse in the process, but you handled it with dignity and grace.
No, they have not changed one bit. In fact, I like them better in many ways since I found out that they do a lot to support the economies of the countries that they buy from. You are so welcome- thanks for the encouragement!
Thank you for your hard work on this review. I have been using doterra for my grass allergies and it has been wonderful, however I am not willing to sign up to be a rep/member so I pay full price. It looks to me like Native American Natural would benefit my pocket boom on top of having a better product. I have to admit, I did skim some of this series ????, I don’t remember seeing whether or not Native American Naturals was safe to take internally?
They say that they are fine to take internally with caution – so not overdoing it. Mr. Dean is concerned b/c the oils are strong and b/c he thinks that they can disturb gut flora if taken in excess. This isn’t medical advice but just what I am thinking and what I have heard. Talk to your own physician if you have concerns. Thanks!
Thanks for your extremely interesting and well-researched material. I have been interested in EO after reading about them from a FB friend who actively promotes YL.
Much of what I have read about EO reminds me of the snake oil salesmen of the Old West — as it, it can’t really do all that the companies claim.
But as I am an RN and believe in complementary therapies, do therapeutic touch myself and have been to an acupuncturist many times with amazing results, I would like to pursue EO.
But I just want to go to the health food store and buy a product, not set up an ongoing relationship with a company that will require the gift of my first born son.
Anyway, thanks very much for your information. It will help.
Well, it’s not your first born :). I must say, the MLM companies are attractive for making money but I just couldn’t do it. I think some of it is a little crazy too but there are potent things in plants to be sure. Many pharmaceuticals are derived from plants.
Thank you so much for all your time in researching this! I am a mom of 4, 2 of whom have severe allergies, asthma, eczema, and other health issues. I’ve been researching healthier living alternatives since 2005. I recently joined YL under my sister and niece because I’ve been using essential oils casually for a while and wanted to get into them more. Last night I went to a small gathering/meeting about using essential oils and sampled some of the YL “blends”. My 15 yr. old daughter, who has life threatening food and nut allergies, attended with me. She was recommended YL’s Awaken blend for some issues. They didn’t have a sample so I looked it up in the product guide to check ingredients and properties. I then read the ingredients on the bottle. Then I happened to look at the information in Ref. Guide for Essential Oils by Connie & Alan Higley. There I found out that the Awaken Blend is in fact a combination of 4-5 other blends in a carrier oil of ALMOND, which my daughter is deathly allergic to. Everyone was shocked that YL did not print that nut ingredient anywhere for the average consumer to see! I am livid. I’ve sent an email and am awaiting response but will most likely be returning my starter kit and switching to another source, especially since I’ve found that there is a list of over 25 items containing almond oil. Luckily I didn’t diffuse or apply any of the oils containing almond before finding this out! I’m on my way now to check out Native American 🙂
That’s CRAZY! Why would they do that? I have no idea. I will check w/ the owner of NAN but I am almost for sure that the only carrier they use is the coconut oil derivative. Good eyes, mama!
Your Blog sight has been very helpful, I too like to research and make decision on what I feel is best for me.
I appreciate all the time and effort you put into your research and making it available for persons like myself. In my quest to compare essential oil prices I have found great information on both your blog sight and The Hippy Home Makers sight. Please don’t quote me but I am pretty sure Native American Nutritional are the oils she uses in the products she sales on her Etsy site. When to persons are giving an EO company thumbs up that says a lot about the company.
Well, there are lots of thumbs up for other companies too but I appreciate your encouragement :).
Thank you for this series of EO info! I am a doTERRA rep, and love their oils, but I’m now raising questions because of this blog and a few others. I have recently found Ananda Apothecary oils, and from my research, they seem great. Wonder if you could shed any light on this. Also, I like mountain rose herbs EOs too! And I have heard good things about them also…any advice? I am almost considering backing out of DT altogether to switch to these two…and just get out of the MLM system :-\
I haven’t looked at them since, but initially they were giving free shipping in exchange for a positive review of their company, which I don’t think it ethical. That’s my opinion. There is more I need to write about NAN but I need to just get to it. They do a lot of good work in Third World Countries which I appreciate.
I have just started researching EO also and I still find it amazing that do’Terra backs many of their EO’s to be safe to ingest when other companies say ingest with caution?! I am thankful that do’Terra is confident in knowing that their product can be digested. I think that says a lot about a company to stand behind their purity and safeness.
The caution isn’t about whether or not the oils are pure – it’s about a concern about overdoing the ingestion of oils. I personally think that doTERRA and Young Living have folks using too many oils internally in some cases. I prefer to be more prudent. Thanks.