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.
This is a great series and investigation! I’m so glad to have come across your blog today. I am currently looking into EO brands and comparing them. Myself, being skeptical and cautious as to what I put in and on myself and family, want to know everything I can to know if it’s pure, safe, and effective. In addition to your already great conclusion, I think a comparison chart would be a very effective tool and resource of your findings for others to easily see the differences. Thanks for sharing and doing so much leg work!
You’re welcome. I really can’t do a chart – but I hope to write more about the oils soon. Stay tuned!
Hello, great articles! And whilst I have read through all 7 parts the only thing is…I am from the UK and have used the young living peppermint oil before and really like the product. But the price is a little steep for me purchasing on the web. I don’t use it internally, and use it with my oil burner instead. My aunty recommends me to put a few drops on my palm, rub and then inhale deeply. I have bought some oil from a local shop and it smells too sweet. What would you recommend from the UK market that is same grade as young living? I tried to search for the final recommended company but doesn’t seem like amazon stocks it for UK market ^^”
Really appreciate your help upon reply 🙂
Just responded to your other comment :).
Thank you for all of your research and sharing your information I am a reflexologist and I use EO regularly. Honestly I didn’t know there was such a difference, I thought 100% pure meant the whole bottle contained 100% pure oil unless mixed with a base.. After reading your posts, checking prices, and talking to different ones who each have their very own opinion,, these articles helped me decide what I was looking for and how involved I want to be, Thank you again for your all inclusive research.
You are so welcome!!
Hi, I know these posts are old, but I really enjoyed reading them. I, too, like to be educated about EOs. Currently, I’m using YL. So far so good, but very expensive. I liked learning about Native American Oils. Is it possible that they are cheaper because many of the blends have a base of wild fractionated coconut oil? I don’t know what that is, and I’m not opposed to coconut oil, because I use it for a lot of things. Also, when I read your pieces, I could sense your heart and your intention. Pappas and those other people were scared of you. Picking on you was heartless. I loved how you handled it all. I’m going to continue perusing the NAO website. Thanks!
The blended ones will be cheaper b/c of the oil added but they are not less expensive due to them being lower quality. Thanks so much for your encouragement!
My question is: Is Rocky Mountain Essential Oils the same company as Native American. The websites are almost identical and the write-ups on the oils are the same.
They share a lot. They were going to merge but they kept the companies separate for business organization purposes – that is my understanding.
Hello. I also am a very research oriented mother, with children with several medical issues. I’ve been researching oils, and have been reading lots. Thank you for all the information you have gathered! I was wondering if you ever read this bloggers posts? (Link deleted by Whole New Mom due to it not working anymore)
She actually took samples and had them blindly tested. The first test was done by Dr. Pappas that you mentioned (blindly though), and she did 3 more tests that I can see also on different oils. Interesting results! Thoughts on them?
Yes, I did read her posts. I like the concept but I don’t like a few things:
1. She emptied the bottles and transferred them to other bottles which would allow for user error.
2. I don’t like the concept of asking readers to donate for the tests. If your blog is going to be benefitting from the traffic you should spend the money yourself.
3. There was one company that wasn’t in compliance on one of the tests but then they came back w/ another sample of oil and paid to have it retested. I forget which company now, but the author of the blog was enthused that they were willing to do that and applauded them and then used her affiliate link to promote them. I find that to be very odd. Of course the company had given not so good oil the first time and then gave better oil the next. How is that to be applauded?
4. She tested tea tree and ended up saying that Native American didn’t meet compliance but then it turned out that she used the wrong oil. So there is user error again.
I think there is much more to oils than GC/MS, however of course it is important. I discussed those things here: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
I hope that helps!
I definitely see where you are coming from with your thoughts on her blog.
A few things should be noted though. In the first two tests done, she did transfer the oil into different containers. On the 3rd round of testing (peppermint), they left the oils in the original sealed bottles. I think your issue with them asking for donations to offset the cost of the testing is just a personal one, and one that doesn’t affect the outcome of the testing results. I personally have no issue with it, since each test is $75-$100 each typically, and then shipping etc. The peppermint test alone would have cost over $1000. It should also be noted that the company you mentioned that didn’t test well, then came back to be tested again? They also pulled the entire bad batch from the shelves, and retested a new batch. The blog didn’t applaud the fact that they retested better the second time, they applauded that they were diligent in wanting to provide a quality product, so much so that they pulled their bad batch (at a significant financial loss to themselves). I also agree there is much more to oils than GC/MS, but it is a starting point…and if an oil doesn’t even get out of the starting block with a pure GC/MS test, than it’s not worth wasting too much further time on. (And before you need to ask, I do not sell oils for any company, nor am I brand dedicated to any, nor affiliated with any blog or essential oil site 🙂
Thank you again for all the hard work that you do. I look forward to trying Native American oils soon!
Thanks, Amy. I hope you like them! I know she wasn’t applauding that they tested better the second time – I just think it’s very easy for a company to just get a better oil the second time around. I don’t know their motives and I am not claiming to know them but it would be very easy for a company to realize that they have been selling not so good product and then get a good product just to have the tests come out well. I am not saying that that company (was it Spark Naturals, I think?) did that or insinuating that they weren’t honest – just saying that it is not a way to judge the integrity of a company within those loose boundaries. It’s also a huge financial loss to have a blog point out that your oil is not compliant, you know?
Take care!
I was surprised that you did ALL that work and came up with Native American EO’s… then I saw the link attached to your page and realized— ah ha! You must have worked out a better compensation plan with them. For most of us consumers, the better plan will be Young Living or DoTerra because we can make a small or large income from recommending those oils but get nothing from recommending yours unless we blog. Yes, everyone, she is getting paid everytime someone clicks on the links on her page and buys. For most of you, Young Living is the better company in overall quality, check out their seed to seal and compensation plan.
I did not work out a larger compensation with Native American. I was told I could make $8000+ with doTERRA or more and I assure you that that hasn’t happened for me with Native American. I did this because I thought it was the right thing to do and then I asked if I could be an affiliate. Not the other way around. If you are accusing me of doing this for money you are completely wrong.
I was Native American’s first affiliate and I love their oils. I have blogger friends making way more than I am in various MLM businesses. I just haven’t felt comfortable with the products or the companies so I went elsewhere. Thanks.
Adrienne,
Thank you for the research you did on this very confusing topic. My daughter’s and I started using Essential OIls after one of their friends started selling DoTerra. I had used oils years ago for lavor massage as a Doula, but there was not as much information 15 yrs ago as there is now, and I just sort of “forgot” about them. I was impressed by the DoTerra brand, and their oils were far superior to the Aura Cacia I was used to. When I started doing some literature research, I came upon your blog. I had just discovered NAN myself and was very impressed with them- then your research blew me away- what a wonderful service you have done! I do love NAN. Their oils are something special. I will continue to buy some DoTerra, mostly to help support my daughter’s friend, and my husband really likes their Serenity and Balance for sleep (I much prefer NAN Calming). But most of our oils are ordered from NAN.
I am also impressed by the graceful way you handle the sometimes out-right snarky comments you get on this blog- My goodness! Some obviously do not understand how internet works. Unlike MLM schemes, people who buy NAN through your site do not pay you a dime. I can’t believe how nasty people can be. Thanks again for all your hard work. God bless.
Thanks so much for your kind comment. Much appreciated!
Marie.
I’ve been with YL for many years. Adrienne’s research was extensive and well done. You are WAY out of line for making such suppositional accusations. Your position to promote your idea of what company is the best…is it not influenced by the fact that you are affiliated with YL? Perhaps it’s time to take a long hard look and admit that you may be wrong. Sounds like that is what Adrienne did…and what those who aren’t wearing the jaded lenses of whatever company they are with should do. If one devotes this kind of time and research to make this deduction and announces the findings on their website (where you are a guest) perhaps we might benefit from the example and do our own research instead of taking someone else’s word for it.
Thanks for your support Jay. 🙂
Good grief, it’s now 2:00 am and I have finally made it to the last chapter! I’ve been reading for HOURS. Now to be honest I have taken plenty of breaks to take care of other matters. lol I must save this last chapter for tomorrow because I’m falling asleep but I do see who you chose. What I wanted to comment on was just to say a big thank you so much for doing this considering how stressful it had to be on you with all of the negativity and somewhat aggressive behavior by both your readers (a few) and Dr. Doolittle. You did an amazing, VERY thorough, UNbiased job and although I personally am not ready to make my own decision, your research will be referenced over and over again before I do make my decision. I do know who I’m not going to buy from and that is doTERAA and Young Living. My personal feeling is that I’d like to purchase from a smaller, perhaps up-and-coming, friendlier and kinder company… such as NAN or even MRH. We’ll see where my research leads me. You deserve an award for this series. I’m serious. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to read the final chapter tomorrow. 🙂
Thanks and I so hope you enjoy the oils!
I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide what company to buy from. I felt good about this company aka rocky mountain oils, from the start. So happy to have found your blog and didn’t have to do all the investigating on my own! Thank you so much! Looking forward to finally making my purchase 🙂
Thanks! I would so appreciate your using my link when you do if you are so inclined. It really helps me continue this blog.
Regarding Plant Therapy –
They sell 2 versions of Lavender. One is altered but they will gladly tell you that. They offer it for those who want to make soaps, bath products, etc. They do have a pure Lavender and it is wonderful. If someone buys the wrong one, that’s their own fault for not researching. You should always look at the Latin name, not just the common name.
Plant Therapy is a smaller company so they don’t offer everything the larger companies do, yet. They add new products all the time though. They now have the better Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) and Helichrysum italicum.
Why is working with experts such a bad thing?
Plant Therapy has 2 aromatherapists on staff and they are always available to answer questions. Did you talk to either of them while doing your research?
As far as ingestion, PT’s stance is that nobody should ingest essential oils, of any brand, unless under the guidance of an aromatherapist trained in internal use. This isn’t because their oils are inferior, but instead because they are 100% committed to safety and the AIA and NAHA both advise against ingestion.
I’m not arguing your personal choice to go with NAN, but I think you have given some misleading info to your readers about Plant Therapy. I have found them to have great oils and honestly the best customer service I have ever gotten from any company in any industry. For those who asked about Plant Therapy and were turned off by her comments, contact the company yourself. Talk to one of the aromatherapists (Retha or Christina).
There are, as far as I understand, only about 5 “experts” or companies that are really selling most of the oils to smaller companies and I have heard that they adulterate but of course that term is understood differently by different people. I don’t want my oils blended w/ others or heated or vacuumed. I want them pure.
I didn’t talk to them but I did contact others at their company.
It is possible that the company has changed quite a few things since I said anything about them – a few of the companies I have talked about did. I am glad you found a company that you are happy with.