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.

Where to Buy Essential Oils you can trust
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Previous Posts In the Series:

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.

Confused about essential oils? What this blogger found out will surprise you. She tried to find out which essential oils company is best and found out some VERY interesting things about oils and the companies that sell them, including Young Living and doTERRA.

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 the “Big Guys” on the block.  So I started contacting a bunch of companies and interviewing them about their oils.

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 the owner for a few hours (at first….that turned into many hours in the upcoming month) and found that he really “knew his stuff.”

I also found out that there were a lot of differences between his company and many others in the industry. I asked him tons of questions during our first conversation, and then more and more over the course of the next 10 months, while I investigated other companies as well.  (Wow–it’s been that long since I started writing this series…..)

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, during which 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 (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.)

Where to Buy Essential Oils You Can Trust–
Rocky Mountain Oils Review

Please note – since this series was written, Rocky Mountain Oils has purchased Native American Nutritionals. Native American Nutritionals was the original company, but the two companies had a partnership. Then Rocky Mountain Oils (RMO) purchased NAN and now RMO is a new company.  I am even more confident in the quality of oils now that this all has taken place.

Before we get on with the details about the company, you can Rocky Mountain Oils and see all that they have to offer.

1.  Experience

The owner of Native American Nutritionals (which later merged with Rocky Mountain Oils), 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 Oilsall 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 has put a high 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

I found the shipping costs with YL and doTERRA to be a little on the steep side.  I was told several times by customer service reps of one of the companies that it was due to businesses being charged more than residential customers.

That didn’t make sense to me – business rates being more expensive than residential when they have that kind of bulk shipping going on? So I called UPS and FedEx and was assured that this is not the case.  So I don’t know why their shipping is so high.  Maybe they are pocketing the extra?  

Rocky Mountain Oils offers Free Shipping domestically in the U.S. and reasonable shipping internationally, with free shipping over $199.

10.  Common Sense Approach

The companies recommend using caution with the oils — but also make practical recommendations so that you can confidently use the oils in your every day life.

11.  No Adulterating

Oils are not heated, mixed with anything else, or adulterated in any way.

Unless declared on the label, the oils are pure.

No Minimum Purchase

One other reason that I don’t want to buy from an MLM essential oils company is that when you do, you often end up buying way more than you need to.

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 way too many oils).

A lot of multi-level marketing oils reps end up ordering other things from the company like personal care products in order to get to that “minimum.”  And I am not thrilled with the ingredients in many of the other products offered.

Undesirable Ingredients in Other Products from Essential Oils Companies

When I was trying to decide where to buy essential oils, I looked at other things besides just oils.

With doTERRA and Young Living, for example:

– DoTERRA’s On Guard toothpaste contains titanium dioxide, a metal that I initially thought that I should avoid due to the possibility of heavy metal toxicity. Now I’m not worried about it for that reason, but it simply because it isn’t necessary.  It’s there just for color.  Overall it is supposed to be pretty benign, but why introduce it to your body unless needed?

The company also has carrageenan (which, depending on the form, is known to cause inflammation) in their capsules and PEG 100 in their Deep Blue Cream.

{Update 2018 – I have been doing some additional research into carrageenan and am not sure where to come down on this. There are two types and it’s possible that the negative effects being discussed are not of concern. I hope to have an update to this in the near future.}

Both companies’ skin care products had ingredients rated 3 and above on EWG’s Skin Deep rating system. I prefer to stick with ingredients rated 2, at the highest. Depending on what you are looking for, that may or may not be acceptable to you. Of course, it depends on their performance too. I don’t think all of EWG’s ratings are flawless, but I do pay attention when I see higher ratings there.

There was, in fact, one essential oils company whose oils I thought looked to be very high quality, but their personal care items were loaded with lots of toxic chemicals.

Also note, if you are used to Young Living or doTERRA oils, Rocky Mountain Oils carries oil blends that are comparable to Young Living and doTERRA blends.

There are other good companies out there.  However, I think that there are fewer “excellent” companies than I originally thought when I started all of this evaluation.

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 purity. And more.

This post on Pure Essential Oil Testing should be of help too for evaluating any company that you wish to consider.

Free Essential Oils Report

Also, if you go and grab my Free Report on 10 Things to Know About Essential Oils Before You Buy, you will not only get more myth-busting essential oils information, but you’ll get access to my VIP newsletter as well–complete with updates, great healthy living offers, of course new posts on essential oils, and more.

10 things you need to know about essential oils report in ipad

What are your thoughts?
Please let me know in the comments.

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6,975 Comments

  1. I love Rocky Mountain Oils, but living in New Zealand I find it hard to get my hands on their products, which is a real shame. At the moment, I am sticking with Doterra because we have a warehouse here on the ground. I would switch to Rocky Mountain products in a heartbeat if their products were easier to get.

    1. I understand the trouble with getting oils and other things from overseas. They do still have an international shipping option, do they not?
      I hope to revisit this topic in the not too distant future! Stay tuned…….(you can subscribe here if you’d like….wholenewmom.com/about-me/)

    1. Hi there. I hope to revisit this topic later but I think that overall they are a good company. I haven’t dug into their purity etc recently, however.

      Hope to soon! Stay tuned….

    1. Hi there. Sorry I responded earlier but it didn’t show up for some reason. I hope to revisit this whole topic at some point to offer more info etcetera to my readers, but at present that’s the company I’m recommending in my posts. I’m buried with a lot of things–stay tuned! You can subscribe here if you’d like. Take care and thanks for reading!

  2. Looking for best Food Grade oil brands that are ingestible. For example, I have used both doTERRA, Young Living and some Revive lemon oil in my water for over 20 years with no problems. They have the Nutritional Facts on the side of the bottle which makes it ok for ingesting. But I don’t like the higher prices. Don’t share my email address with any other company or sell it please.

    1. Hi there – sorry for the delay. This is something I might add to my post on essential oil myths, but basically a nutrition label does not mean that the contents are safe to ingest–the company doesn’t do a GC/MS test or any kind of EO testing before getting that label as far as I know. Pure is pure so as long as you choose an oil from a trusted company, you should be pretty safe, but there are other companies outside of doTERRA and Young Living and Revive that you can shop from. I chose the company in this post.

      Of course I would never sell or share your email with anyone else. Here’s the myth post that might be of help :). https://wholenewmom.com/essential-oil-purity-myths/
      I hope to write more soon and update old posts too – you can sign up for updates here if you’d like: wholenewmom.com/about-me/

  3. Rocky mountain does add menthol and menthyl acetate to their peppermint. Pretty sure there is no company out there that does not sell adulterated oil in the lines. So bottom line you are more than likely over paying for a placebo at be best and dangerous chemicals at worst no matter who you buy from.

    1. Hi Rachel. Can you tell me what your basis is for saying this? That’s a pretty intense accusation. Thank you.

  4. Hi Adrienne!
    I loved reading your article about essential oils. I did have a question. As a soap maker I use Titanium Dioxide in my soaps to make them “whiter” I’m not sure it’s considered a metal though. Titanium is definitely a metal but Titanium Dioxide?
    Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as a mineral which is why I have always used it in soap safely.
    Definition:
    Titanium dioxide, also called titania, (TiO2), a white, opaque, naturally occurring mineral existing in a number of crystalline forms, the most important of which are rutile and anatase. These naturally occurring oxide forms can be mined and serve as a source for commercial titanium. Titanium dioxide is odourless and absorbent. Its most important function in powder form is as a widely used pigment for lending whiteness and opacity.
    Thanks for the the info and research you did on EO’s. I to fell for YL around 2010 and spent loads with them also. I now enjoy RMO’s as well and Plant Therapy.

    1. Titanium dioxide isn’t a metal as far as I know. I did some writing about it but there are mixed opinions about its safety. Did you have a question about it? Sorry if I missed it! Thanks for the kind words!

  5. Thank you, I’ve just been looking for information approximately this subject
    for ages and yours is the best I have found out so far.
    However, what about the bottom line? Are you certain concerning the source?

    1. Hi there. Thanks for the comment. I actually need to update everything in this series at some point to make it easier to navigate / add more information, etc. Are you asking me if I’m certain about the company that I went with?

  6. Thank you dearly for your commitment to the integrity of your research and the grace in which you present it, unwaveringly so.

    I just read the entire 7 part series, having googled ‘young living versus do terra’ – I have used both for short periods of time in my life and didn’t feel pulled to these oils.

    I am about to start my training with The School for Aromatic Studies with an interest in the French medical ways of internal use.

    My cousin who has studied there recommended to me Lunaroma essential oils, an apothecary in Vermont. Have you researched their oils?

    I have also been recommended Rocky Mountain Oils, so I am thrilled to receive this verification from you exhausting this topic meticulously.

    Looking forward to hearing from you, Adrienne.

  7. Fantastic blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring
    writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
    Would you propose starting with a frde platform like Wordpress orr go for a paid option? There are
    so mny options out there that I’m totally confused .. Any ideas?
    Bless you!

  8. Hi Adrienne! I’m curious about whether you have done any research on REVIVE. I read some reviews and decided to give them a try. I got my box today so I am going to experiment with them myself, but thought I’d just check with you.

    1. Hey Jennifer—is this the Jennifer from our past life in IL? I have done some but not as much recently. Let me know if that is indeed you and I’ll see what I can find :).