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.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I cannot thank you enough for sharing all of your hard work with thousands of other information-seeking people. I am so grateful for all of the information I have found on your blog and I can only imagine the amount of time and energy you put into this series. I too suffer from chronic fatigue and pain and have food allergies as well. My oldest daughter used to have food allergies and still has behavioral reactions to foods and additives. She also has SPD along with ADHD and anxiety. My youngest has eczema which I believe to be triggered by dairy. Knowing the amount of energy it takes to handle these challenges daily makes my gratitude towards you even deeper. Thank you again. <3
You are so welcome. And your compliment means a lot seeing as you know what this all takes. I’d be interested in hearing if you remove dairy what happens. My youngest has issues on his hand if he eats too much of it. Take care. And I am feeling so much better. I worked w/ a great practitioner for awhile and am working w someone new now. Happy to share if you are interested.
Thank you for taking the time to put together such helpful information! I am just dabbling in EO and was thinking about buying a bottle of Thieves (my friend gives me YL samples). Is there a NAN oil comparable to Thieves or are you still making your own? Thanks in advance!
You are so welcome! Yes, you can get their immune blend and I do both -I have some made up and I still make my own. I am using theirs right now :).
Hello Adrienne,
I am new to the EO world and I’m ready to jump in with both feet!! Thank you very much for taking the time to do all of this research! Before I knew much about EO’s, I purchased a starter kit from Fabulous Frannie. I want to buy more but your blog has really opened my eyes. I searched your page to see if you reviewed them and I couldn’t find anything. Maybe I missed it. If you did review them, can you tell me why this may not be a good company to buy from? It would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there. you are so welcome! I can’t say about that company but you could read a few things to see how they measure up. This post:https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/
This guide: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
And then this post. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/ I did write a new post today on how to use oils that might interest you too. Thanks much.
Hi Adrienne!!
Murphy’s Law at its best!! I recently posted a comment in part 6 stating that I couldn’t get part 7 to open. But here I am!! It finally worked and my assumption as to which company you chose (based on comments in part 6) was correct!! Thank you so much for all of your hard work! So many details and authentically presented, which I greatly appreciate! I am looking forward to ordering oils from NAN! Thanks again!
~ Brandy
We figured out a way to deal with it. Seems the blog was having a rough time w/ all of the comments. Thanks again!!
Thank you so much for this article! My daughter represents doTerra, but…my goodness! Their PRICES! I even looked into Young Living (as a rep myself), but I just couldn’t do it. What I object to THESE TWO companies is that I can’t buy what I want DIRECTLY from them! I HATE that business model! I want to buy what I want and WHEN I want it. And, yes, their shipping is ridiculous! $9.00? I now have two orders with Rocky Mountain and shipping was only $2.00.
Thank you again! I’m rereading your article tonight!
I meant to say…”I can’t buy from them WITHOUT a monthly minimum or whatever it is…points…whatever…” That just doesn’t sit well with me. WHY a minimum order (or points)? Frankly, if I want to buy $5.00 worth of oils, I should be able to do that without points or money hanging over me. I HATE the pressure, too, of YL and DOTERRA.
I didn’t know they had a minimum order. Oh well. I am really happy with the other companies I am a rep for. Thanks again!
Hi Cheryl! Thanks for commenting. I used to be w/ doTERRA too but just couldn’t stay. I think you can buy direct but it’s a small fortune. I don’t have anything against direct sales per se. In fact, I am a rep for a number of companies but I like their ethics and product so I am fine w/ them. Hope to hear from you again! I posted this too that you might like:https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/
Sorry – that link got in late and didn’t go through w/ my original comment. Here you go again : https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/
I am looking for quality oils to sell on my webstore. Do you know if either of these companies sell price reduced in bulk. The problem is that YL and DT have these options. So it works well for those who have little shop etc.
Hi there. So sorry for not getting back to you sooner – I got inundated and a lot of comments got lost in a pile. I don’t believe that they do – -or rather that they are very selective. You could inquire. Please let them know that I sent you. Thanks!
Just wanted to thank you for all the time and energy you spent researching this topic. I will definitely look at NAN next time I go to purchase Essential
Oils or other healthy products!
Mary
Thanks so much, Mary. I came out with this post recently as well. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/ Hope to see you around again!
Hi Adrienne!
I realize that you can’t comment on other companies and are not currently conducting further reviews, however I am just curious if you included Plant Therapy in your research 🙂
Thanks!
Yes, I did. I can say a few things. When I did my research they sold the 40/42 lavender which is commonly thought of as adulterated and is either different lavenders combined with others, or with synthetics sometimes apparently, in order to provide a consistent scent. They came out “non compliant” in another test of oils, and then replaced their oil and paid to have the test done again. I guess you can make your own conclusions about that and why I chose to not recommend them.
I have more to share about Native American and am just thrilled with their service and how they care for the farmers that they buy the oils from – they really invest in the countries.
This is awesome, thank you so much! I’d love to hear what else you have to share about NAN!
You are so welcome! I have written a few things – this post on testing, https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/toxic-overload-health-concerns/essential-oils-testing-is-it-reliable/ this guide,https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/ and this post. https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/
More to come and thanks again!
Hi adrienne, thankyou for your post about the essential oil companies it was ver insightful, I have myself started using essential oils recently but have the same concerns you have had in your post.
You mentioned in your post that you will address about the purity and extraction methods on NAN in a later post. I am very much interested to know if all of their oils are from 1st distillation also if they use solvents to extract any other oils besides the ones you have mentioned above.
My understanding is that 1st distill only applies to peppermint and ylang ylang. I am trying to get that clarified but that is what Mr. Dean told me.
I will have to get on that post. However, Jasmine is the only absolute that NAN sells as it can’t be extracted any other way. Their vanilla is now CO2 extracted. Most vanillas are extracted with a solvent because other extraction methods are very difficult.
Does that help? And I wonder if you saw this guide that I just came out with: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
I read ALL of the series….THANK YOU! Can’t wait to get started. I have a bad back and feet and am hopeful that I will find great things in EO! Can you expain what this means : 7. Organic and/or Wild-Crafted
All of their oils are either: – organically certified – organically grown (grown with organic methods, but not certified) – wild-crafted The only conventional oils they sell are those for which the high cost of the organic oils is prohibitive (they can be four times the conventional price).
Thanks much! Now I need to order some stuff!!!
Hi Laurie. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you – I was doing research on this.
This is the info from the company:
Does that help? Thanks much and Happy New Year!
What does Wild Craft mean? VS. What does Organic mean?
Wild Crafted means that the plants have been grown wild in nature without human intervention. Ideally they have been harvested following wildcrafting guidelines which includes never harvesting more than 15% of the species in one area and never collecting close to highways or industrial areas.
Organic means plants that have been cultivated by natural means on unpolluted land without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. It should also mean that they haven’t been chemically altered, fumigated, or irradiated.
Does that help :)?