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.
Hello,
Your blog has been an interesting read. However, I still come away feeling like you are bias. I really feel you are anti mlm and that leans you away from doTERRA or Young Living right off the bat.
According to you my comments will only be checked for foul language and spam, so I this will make it to your comments page. One of your comments about doTERRA is false and misleading. You said “For example, with doTERRA and Young Living, in order to get the best discounts on their oils as a rep, you need to order monthly over $100 of products (to get free products that essentially reduce your costs). Do that every month and you end up with waaaay too much oils).”
The statement alone shows your bias to mlm’s. I do not know what the quota is for YL. I haven’t used them in many years. But I am aware of doTERRA’s as I have been recently introduced to them. To get the highest discount in doTERRA, which is 25% off retail, all you have to do is enroll as a Wellness Advocate. There is no minimum you must spend every month. This 25% is the same that ALL in doTERRA get as Wellness Advocates whether you are in it for the oils only or in it to build a business. Whether you are just getting started or have been in it for years. Here is how, you enroll for $35 the first time or get a kit and the fee is waved. Then every year after that it is $25 PLUS a free bottle of Peppermint. Which knocks your enrollment cost to a free oil and a few more dollars. I spend more than that at the wholesale warehouse I shop at maybe 3 or 4 times a year.
Yes, to get the bonuses you will need to spend a certain amount that month, but to get the best purchase discount you do not. You made it sound like it is mandatory to get spend $100 a month to get doTERRA’s best purchase discount. That is just plain false. Please clarify this in your post. The added bonuses are just that BONUSES. You do NOT have to participate in commissions or bonuses if you do not want to. And another cool thing about the bonuses is you can choose to go for a bonus one month but not have to the next month if you do not want to. It’s up to you and depends on what the bonus is.
Oh and before I go, I have a question, can you please tell me how investing in Native American Nutritionals helps me in any way get back anything I am spending in their company, aside from the product I buy? It’s like just going to any other store on the market and buying product and getting nothing in return other than the product that only lasts for so long. If Native American Nutritionals is comparable to doTERRA then I think I will choose doTERRA because they offer MORE for my money, and similar quality(?), and the one of the most important factors for me… they WORK. Also, I can try them before I buy them. Find any doTERRA rep and they will give you samples of any oil you want if they have it. That is how I found out they work. I contacted NAN about getting samples and I have to pay $15 plus tax and shipping for samples of their choice. Oils I might not even need. How am I supposed to know they work? If my body doesn’t need them they won’t make a difference. Honestly I feel more secure in a product I can try before I buy. Wouldn’t you?
Hi there. First of all, thanks for commenting. I appreciate the “challenge”.
I am for sure not anti MLM. In fact, I am a rep for Lilla Rose and Miessence and have really enjoyed both of them, and I am considering another one. I had other reasons for leaving YL and doTERRA. The product needs to have compelling reasons for the extra money and I didn’t feel they did in this case. Again, I cite the chemical smell and the issues surrounding doTERRA’s distillation issue and there were other issues. I have email upon email of another doTERRA rep and I trying to get to the bottom of the peppermint smell at doTERRA and we never could get one and that didn’t sit well with me.
Regarding the minimums, I don’t recall what they were when I was w/ doTERRA but they might have changed and I felt that the pricing of the oils was too high w/o getting the freebies so that is what drove me to buy more and more. That is what I was trying to convey. And I think that the pricing of the peppermint was way too high considering the pricing at Native American for a peppermint oil that is the “1st distill”.
I did a comparison of the prices at doTERRA vs Native American Nutritionals and NAN’s were quite a bit lower. I believe the average was 25% lower than the wholesale pricing at doTERRA if I am not mistaken. For an example, let’s look at peppermint. NAN has one for $16 and one for $14 while doTERRA’s price is $21.87. So if I can save that much it makes the decision easier but it wasn’t just a move for cost. I read on the internet about another company, Heritage Oils, that had the same peppermint as doTERRA which gives me pause as well. Here is an excerpt from the report:
As far as investing in Native American, I am not looking at purchasing oils as an investment in anything but my family’s health. I invest in other things but if I can get similar or better oils for a cheaper price then that is an investment return right there. In fact, if I can get 10% or 25% off then that is a fabulous return on my money these days when bank money markets are making .25 – 1%. I am not sure that I understand what you are saying the return on your investment is by buying from doTERRA so please let me know what you mean. If you are looking for something else to “invest” in, however, Native American Nutritionals is doing a lot of work investing in Third World countries and I hope to highlight that soon so perhaps that is something that would interest you.
As for them working, I am glad they are working for you and I did enjoy some of their oils but I am liking the same oils from Native American and have found others I really like. I do think whether something works or not is important but then purity and cost are issues of import as well. Of course, prescription medications work but I choose not to use them unless absolutely necessary. And conventional produce “works” but I choose not to eat it unless I have to because I have other concerns about them.
I would prefer to try before I buy, so that’s a nice option for sure but I did go to a Young Living rep for a sample and it was so little that I couldn’t really see if it could work so it’s a bit of a mixed bag in my experience.
I really appreciate your thoughts – let me know if my response helped at all and at least it if clarified my thoughts on MLMs, etc. Thanks!
One more thing I should add. Most of Native American Nutritionals’ oils are wild-crafted or organic which I don’t believe the MLMs can claim. Thanks again.
This was awesome! you did ALOT of hard work, and I for one really appreciate it! I am new to essential oils and was considering purchasing YL or DT and even becoming a distributor “to save money”. I am so glad I came across this blog!
Thanks!
PS–sorry some people are so mean 🙁
Thanks so much, Lorrie! I hope to see you around again. More on oils coming soon – with a special for subscribers in a day or so I hope. 🙂
Ohh and I forgot to ask but I really like the company Tropical Traditions, do you know anything about their new EO company, Florihana? Thanks 🙂
Hi there. I can’t comment on specific companies but you could look at this post to see how they measure up. As I am sure you can understand, it’s been a lot of work looking at different companies and I finally had to take a break. I am pleased w/ Native American Nutritionals for more reasons than I shared and will hopefully have more to write on them soon.
Thanks! https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
Wow so I was on this site for like an hour and a half reading all the comments and finally realized I was only like 1/7th of the way to the bottom! Hahaha But I definitely got my answer. Once I first heard of EO’s I didn’t know much about them and just bought the first brand I could find; NOW and Aura Cacia but they were horrible. I still have them by the way and a year later, the Rose that I bought from NOW smells like full on synthetic fragrance/chemicals. I switched to doTERRA since I am from Utah and heard soo many good things about them (although I later found out that people just wanted to make money off of me which is ******, considering that if you truly believe in something and love the product you wouldn’t try to earn a profit off of it… You would just share the love) so then I JUST signed up with YL and I actually do really like their oils, but the fact of the price is just wayyy too much for me since I’m not rich. I am so excited to purchase NAN oils tonight 🙂 Thanks so much for your hard work and dedication to something you truly believe in!! 🙂
Thanks for your kind comment and welcome! I so hope you like them. Very interesting your comment about the NOW oils – that’s a shame. I really like that company overall. Hope to hear from you again!
Thanks a lot Adrienne for your recommendation. I have been using NAN and RMO oils for my family months ago since I read your post and it has been a tremendous help for all our health challenges. I hope you got credited by my purchase because I emailed them and mentioned your name when I did my first purchase. Anyway, thanks again! We love the oils esp. the purity, effectiveness, and lower prices compared to the other oils that I have purchased from other companies before. God bless!
Thanks so much! Did you go through the links on my blog? I can ask them -thanks for thinking of me :).
I just ran across some Facebook argument and a company called Plant Therapy came up. I looked and they are so affordable. Do you have any knowledge of them??
Thanks for commenting – I can’t comment on individual companies but I did not choose to go with them. They did have a situation on another blog where they had an oil not pass a GC/MS test and then they resubmitted a different batch of oils. I would read this post to see how they measure up but you have to decide if you are comfortable with a company that had components in their oils that were not typical. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/ Thanks much!
🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever explained how helpful this series was for me when I started using oils. I began back in March. Your series is what helped me choose which brand to go with. I mentioned your series in my essential oils review on my blog. I wanted other people to check your series out because the research is incredible. Thanks again.
Thank you sooo much. That makes me smile at the end of a tiring day :)!
I have this exact book and love it, but always wondered where to get my oils for good prices.
Thank you for sharing , I didn’t’ want to do the doTerra thing like everyone else and I am so glad you shared about the additives.
Blessings
Linda Finn
So glad to hear it Linda!!!
What diffuser would you recommend? I am new to essential oil diffusing?
Hi Kelly. Sorry for the delay. I have the doTERRA Lotus but I don’t care for it – it shuts off too quickly. There are a lot of diffusers you can choose from and many thoughts on the subject. Some people like diffusers that dispense a mist, whereas others like a diffuser that only has neat oil in it. You can go here to choose from a variety. I hope to write a post on that in the future.
I’ve been using essential oils for over ten years now. I have about 20 books on the subject, all written by aromatherapists, typically with certifications in England and Europe. None of them–not one, not ever–recommends taking oils internally or using the oils on the skin without diluting them in a carrier oil (except lavender). I always find myself surprised by these MLM companies recommending practices that the established field finds dangerous, and I’m always surprised that a lot of women only seem to know what the MLM companies are teaching. Why not read books simply listed on Amazon, written by aromatherapists? Why not just buy essential oils from a store? No parties, no annoyances, just buy what you want when you want. I have had exceptional service and quality (and prices!) from Nature’s Gift. I have a collection of over 100 oils, and while I don’t know how much of a discount MLMs give to their reps, I can’t imagine it’s so much better than prices I’ve seen from NG. They are significantly less than Aura Cacia, and much, much better quality. I have no connection with them except ten years of being a customer. Skip the dangerous MLMs and just support a non-annoying woman-owned business!
Thanks. I would be interested in what books you think are the best. I think the internal usage is very much overdone by some companies but I think it is applicable, with caution, in some cases. Thanks so much again.