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.
First of all, I want to thank you for all the work you do in your blog. I have grown to appreciate your thoroughness in research and just about everything.
I actually discovered your blog this summer, after I had purchased a YL essential order starter kit. I’ve pretty much read through everything posted. My question to you. I am considering purchasing oils from NAM (I will be using your link) but I wanted your opinion on some of the products. I’ve looked at the different kits and I’m wondering if you think it is worth purchasing a kit, or if it is better to buy individual oils? I know its kind of a personal decision, but I wondered if all of the oils in their kits are really ‘useable’ or are some of them just oils that sit on the shelf. What are the ‘go to’ oils that are essential and why? Thanks for your help.
Hi there. Thanks so much – I wish I had more time but so many other things are pulling at me.
I think it can be worth it, for sure, due to the discount, but hmmmm…not if you aren’t going to use them. I am planning a post soon on my favorite oils but many of them are in NAN’s kits 1 and emergency.
In the emergency one I haven’t used aligning or purify or first aid or balance, but I would be interested in trying them so I wouldn’t let the hold me from buying I supposed.
The Basic One is a little more of what I would use regularly: I haven’t used flu time or aligning or skin care but the reviews on the skin care look really intriguing so I would love to try it.
Does that help? The Arthritis Plus has helped me for quite a few things so I really like that one.
Thank you 😉
I enjoyed reading your blog. You saved me a lot of time on whittling away the companies. I will still research the companies you mentioned, your standards are high, like my own, I can see that in your blog. The wellness industry is highly unregulated and many folks get taken for a ride because they don’t have enough time to educate themselves. Thanks for your hard work.
Thank you and welcome! Mine are high and I need to be careful not to think too much sometimes. :). We could spend forever, eh? Let me know if you need more information. I hope to write more soon – but I have been totally swamped here :). Did you see my new guide on buying EOs? https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
Hi Adienne,
I have been doing research for months and appreciate the time and effort you have put in. I have used some doTerra, YL, and lower cost oils and was trying to decide where I wanted to invest. The more I tried or found out the more I felt I needed to find….I do like a few of doTerras products for ease of use or carrying (beadlets, rubs) but wasn’t sure I wanted to join or stick with just one. I saw the book you liked on Essential Oils …what do you think oif the Modern Essentials book? Ive had several folks say they like it even if they don’t use doTerra. My second question is what did you end up finding out about Mountain Rose Essential Oils. It’s one of the last that I was looking at with NAN. Thanks so much for your time and help. This busy mom appreciates your input as we are approaching the “sick season”.
Hi there. I think it’s OK. I have it and the Young Living book but of course they are heavy on their own products and I think both of them are heavy on internal use of oils – more than I am comfortable with. MRH is a conundrum. I was first told that they didn’t recommend internal use of oils as they weren’t made in a food grade facility so I walked away. After this series was done they said that wasn’t the case but I wasn’t able to nail down their sourcing. I am just swamped. I did hear some folks have said they don’t think they are as potent as other companies. I don’t know what to think. If I can I will try to dig more but I think the education you are going to see coming out from the NAN / RMO team is going to be well worth it. I have more posts to add. Thanks – oh, and did you see my new guide to EOs? https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
WOW! Thank you for sharing your research journey. That is a lot of information to process. I am currently a YL distributor (for only about 6 months or so) and I find I am still of the fence which oil company I want to stand behind. Your information certainly helps. I find I keep wanting to jump ship from YL. I feel more marketed to than taught about oils. I truly want to learn about what I use, promote and sell and they are just not fitting me comfortably.
That said, I will surely be looking into Native American! Along with that, there are two oil companies I am curious about. I am not looking for you to do the research…just trying to tap into any specific findings you might have come across with these two companies in your journey. The first is Plant Therapy. I recently discovered them; however, I have not had time to research them and have not tried any of their oils. The second is Floracopeia. I have known about them as long as I have YL and just haven’t looked into them yet either. If you have any research you might share with me regarding Floracopeia and Plant Therapy, I am all ears.
I noticed that you had an ad or something for Plant Therapy on your “Announcing the Best Essential Oils Company” report. Any significance to that?
Have a wonderful day and thanks again for sharing this valuable information!
Dina
Hi there. The ads show up based on what you search for – they are not something that I necessarily endorse :).
That being said, I’m sorry but I can’t comment on oil companies now – but you can read this post to see if they measure up https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
and I just came out w/ this guide to purchasing EOs that you might find interesting: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
Hope that helps :).
I’m a little late on this one, but I just found your blog. Excellent series! I learned a lot of great info for those of us non-chemists and I believe that you were totally fair and balanced, regardless of what the naysayers post 🙂 It sounds to me like Mr Pappas, especially, has his own agenda and is a little paranoid of actual, understandable, information getting out to the lay-people of the EO world!
Again, thank you so much for all of the research and time you put into this endeavor!!
Thank you so much, Lisa and welcome! I’ll be writing more soon – life has been really crazy.
Did you see the new guide I am giving out? You might find it to be interesting: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
Take care!
Excellent! Just downloaded it…thank you so much!
Thanks! I’ll write more soon!
Thank you for so much help in regards to the best company! I am really trying to begin to live more naturally, especially with this new found knowledge about oils. Do you have any recommendations as far as what diffusers to buy?
Good question. I would like to write more about diffusers but there are all kinds of thoughts about them. It’s hard to know what’s important and what isn’t. Here’s a link to some to check out for now: https://wholenewmom.com/RMOdiffusers
Thanks for your kind words :)!
Thank you for sharing the results of all your hard work with us, Adrienne! What a labor of love!
While I find this very helpful and informative, I suppose I was secretly hoping you’d rate each company on your original list as “favorite” to “least favorite.” I’m left wondering where, say, Mountain Rose Herbs falls in line, in your opinion. The price difference between MRH and NAN is so steep that I would have liked more of a compare and contrast; I sifted through parts one through six of this series, but didn’t find a whole lot of specific reasons why you did NOT choose MRH. Did I miss something, maybe?
Hi there. I am sorry but things just got so muddled! The first person I asked at MRH said that they weren’t to be used internally due to them not being made in a food grade facility. The next person said that wasn’t true but I haven’t been able to nail down their sourcing. I basically found NAN and was happy to have done so. At that point the “not food grade” information is what I had about MRH so I didn’t go that direction. I have been so swamped w/ many things and since I’ve been so pleased w/ NAN and their knowledge and resources that I haven’t looked elsewhere. I will be writing more.
Did you see the new guide I came out with? https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
I can’t really grade companies – if you haven’t seen it, the EO industry has become uber competitive and I have to be careful what I saw so as not to get in trouble. Sad to say but that is the truth. Hope this helps to some extent.
Thank you for the reply! I’ve read everything you have written thus far about EO’s. Just making sure I didn’t miss anything. 😉
Thanks for checking in :).
Adrienne,
I was wondering if you have had a chance to try the diffusers out from NAN? I am looking for an excellent diffuser for a larger room Thanks
Good timing – I am testing them this week – do you need an answer sooner? I would personally go for the larger of the aroma cloud ones.
This is a really interesting series and I commend you for going through such in depth research of each company. I use young living oils and have for nearly two years and I have countless testimonies from using these oils that have never failed me. However, I’m not pleased with the territorial nature that many of the YL clan respond with when I am reading blogs online such as this one. I would like to reassure people out there that we’re not all crazy and cultish! Haha! I would like to make one small correction on the info you offered for YL. You mentioned that $100 minimum is required. That’s not actually true. There is no minimum required to be a part of YL. They have a rewards program that is optional that requires $50/ mo purchase in order to receive 10% back on every order. The amount of rewards increases with every month, so eventually you end up getting 20% back. The $100 minimum occurs when you are a distributor and wish to make a commission from those in your downline. If you wish to make money from essential oil sharing, then they require a minimum to receive that benefit. I actually purchase a lot from them every month because I use these oils for everything from allergies, to cramping to my husband’s snoring, so we do use what we purchase 😉 I am very interested to learn more regarding the Native American brand. They sound wonderful. I just ordered a bottle from them for comparison for myself, so we’ll see how it measures up 🙂 thank you again for sharing an unbiased opinion, and I am sincerely sorry that you received some awful comments from YL reps. We should be able to share our experiences openly and discuss them rationally without breathing fire. Haha! I may let you know about my personal comparison with their blend that matches the valor blend from YL. I used valor on the reg so this should be a great comparison!
Thanks and I look forward to hearing what you think – YL’s Valor has a carrier oil, correct?
I meant that you need to order a greater amt to get the freebies that give you the lowest pricing. I don’t think things have changed in that regard w/ YL since I was with them.
Thanks :).