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 am brand new to essential oils (as in, i just started looking into them yesterday) and came across this series of posts. Based on your advice, I plan to purchase our first oils from NAN. I am wondering which oils you would recommend I purchase first and how helpful/ necessary is a diffuser. I am considering buying the Basic One Kit, but don’t know if that really has what we need in it. The two major issues I am hoping the oils will help are: 1. my twin six year old daughters have had a chronic cough for over 2 years now. We have been to the pediatrician, ENT, Pulminologist, and Allergist, and have a current diagnosis of cough variant asthma. Tradition inhalers and nasal steroids do not seem to be helping. We also will be removing their tonsils and adenoids next month because of recurrent strep and sleep apnea. 2. My husband suffers from diabetic nerve pain, and I would love to find something to give him some relief. I would also like to have the oils that help with day to day issues such as bug bites, stomach aches, head aches, sinus infections, allergies, etc. I know you are very busy, so I want to thank you ahead of time for your opinions as well as for all the work you did to create this series of posts.
This is the response from the owner of Native American. This is not medical advice – please talk to your physician before making changes to your diet or supplement regimen
I am considering palette expansion for apnea. Might be something to look at. Again, not medical advice.
So after reading your evaluation-why not just buy from the small farmers who supply these companies so as to get the great quality and a great price?
I don’t think you can do that. The owner of NAN buys huge barrels. I don’t think you want that – I sure don’t :).
May I ask if you researched Organic Illusions at any point in time?
I was a Young Living distributor but after much research felt I was being misinformed in many ways regarding EO…especially when it came to ingestion.
Then there was the price of YL oils…and with YL being a MLM company, as is doTerra, they are way over priced, not to mention they were ALWAYS OUT OF THE HIGHLY DESIRED OILS. That was frustrating in itself!
Anyhow, after all of that…I am back to the original reason for writing. Do you have any information regarding “Organic Illusions”
Thank you,
GB
I haven’t. I got exhausted trying to sort out all of the companies. Maybe check out this post to see if they measure up. I hope to write more. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
What were your findings on Aura Cacia oils?
Sorry but I just can’t comment on / evaluate the companies anymore. I’m just swamped and there might be legal issues. You can check out this post to see what you think and I hope to write more – thanks and sorry for the delay.https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I am curious what your opinion of Edens Garden essential oils is. I saw them on Amazon and am curious. I’ve smelled their lavender and it smells decent enough and did help my headache but I am new to essential oils and would like to buy a good oil.
Sorry but I can’t comment on all of the companies and evaluate them. I’m just swamped. I would recommend reading this post and seeing if they measure up – I hope to write more. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
Thank you so much for taking the time to educate people like myself about EO’s. I have been so overwhelmed about doing my own research into this that it has been confusing. This was very educational for me and has given me new insight on what to look for when purchasing an EO. I have been dealing with medical issues, ( 2 bulging disks from a work related injury, liver issues, headaches, and depression) all the doctors want to do is give me more pain pills,and muscle relaxers. I have since stopped taking the pills and looking for a more natural way to heal myself and get my life back. I am a believer in natural remedies, because this is how it was done back in the day when my grandmother used to care for us. I am so sorry that you had to endure the ridicule from companies that didn’t want the truth told. You have helped me in my search to find the best company with EO’s and I will be looking at their website to order. Thanking you again for your persistence and determination.
Thanks so much and welcome!
You mentioned Mountain Rose Herbs several times. I wondered what you conclusions/findings were on them?
I mentioned that I am puzzled. I touched on my confusion in the first post – I added some to that one. Please check that and let me know if you need more information. Thanks.
Yes, that helps. Thanks! Please post more on them whenever you have more info!
I just want to thank you for this series of blogs! I just ordered my first set of oils from NAN, and was nervous about the merging with Rocky Mountain. Your blog helped ease my mind. I plan to order again in two weeks and will stick with NAN. I have no problem going through your link. I was already sold on not using YL or DT, but I’m all for helping moms.
Thanks – I really appreciate it!
I have a friend who sell an MLM brand of oils. If we wait until she does our monthly order, there is a discount and no shipping. Also, the area reps do monthly classes on using oils which are very helpful, plus they are always available by phone or Facebook to answer questions. Does Native American do those things?
They do not have things like that but they do have sales – if you register on their site you should get notice of them. I tend to promote them on my FB page and/or blog as well :). Mr. Dean has loads of videos on the internet and they sell a book as well. I think a lot of education is helpful but I would personally be careful of the extent to which the MLMs advise using the oils internally. I think it’s a little overdone and could damage gut flora. Mr. Dean brought that up to me and I think he is correct. Of course, this is not medical advice.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this informative research project!! Just my humble opinion … I am so not into MLM, as you mentioned and it was definitely confirmed that much of the price of the products just makes the “higher ups” richer. I have used products from Rocky Mountain before and am pleased to hear that they have merged with Native American. Again, thanks for all you shared!! Blessings.
Thank you!