• Home
    • Legal Policies & Disclosures
  • Start Here!
    • About Tiffany
    • FAQ
  • Health & Fitness
    • Workouts
    • Healthy Living
    • Fit Lifestyle
  • Recipes
    • Paleo Recipes
    • Muffins
    • Sweet
    • Savory
  • Personal Development
  • Essential Oils
    • Essential Oils- What are they?

A Fit Mom's Life

Fitness, Health & Well-being

Essential Oils

The Difference in Quality of Essential Oils

November 17, 2015

The difference in quality of essential oils can vary from company to company. Here are a few points to keep in mind as you start looking into essential oils.

** This post is my opinion alone after months of research prior to joining Young Living.  **

One question I get asked often about essential oils is “why did you choose Young Living?”  The other is “why are the Young Living oils more expensive than ones I can get at the grocery or health food store?”  And this is a topic I could go on about for an hour.  Because there is a HUGE difference! But I’ll try to keep it brief.  

Purity of Essential Oils

A lot of people that are only semi-familiar with essential oils don’t realize that not all essential oils are created equal.  The difference in quality of essential oils can vary drastically depending on the company you get them from.  And there are even differences between the top essential oil companies. The majority of essential oils you’ll find at places like the grocery store or other box stores have been adulterated; meaning they aren’t 100% pure essential oils.  They usually have an additive included in the bottle, so you’re not just inhaling or applying the pure essential oil to your skin.  This could be harmful to your body and reduce the effectiveness of the oil.  Some of the additives I’ve found companies use include carrier oils (like olive oil or another fatty oil), synthetic oils, chemical dilutants, alcohols and even just mixing less expensive oils with more expensive ones.
One easy way to tell if an oil has been adulterated is if it says “Topical use only” or “Do not ingest.”  That’s a tell tale sign that what’s in the bottle is more than just essential oil.  

Quality Control

In doing my research before I decided to start using Young Living oils, I found that most essential oil companies out there are re-bottlers.  Meaning they don’t manufacture the oils they sell, they purchase them from distillers or other farmers and re-bottle them to their brand.  To me that means they aren’t able to see the quality of the plant that produced the oil, or the distillation process.  Now, they may have close relationships with the farmers and distillers, but still, if they aren’t manufacturing the oils themselves or growing the plants that those oils come from, they can’t 100% say without a doubt that these oils were made with the most strict standards, no pesticides were used whatsoever, and that they are 100% pure and organic.  

There are many things that can impact the quality of an essential oil.  I’ll just touch on the 2 biggest ones, but there are more including packaging of the oils and storage.

RELATED  Essential Oil Diffuser Blends for the Holidays

Plants: Were the plants grown using pesticides or other chemical fertilizers?  Or were they grown naturally, on a fully sustained farm using only herbicides as fertilizers?  Were they grown in their natural environment (meaning did the Frankincense come from Oman, Yemen, or Somalia, which are the 3 areas where Frankincense trees naturally grow)?  How were the seeds selected?  Were they hand chosen to be planted?  How the plants are cared for makes a huge difference in the quality of the essential oils. 

Distillation process: How were the oils distilled?  In order to preserve the medicinal benefits of essential oils, the plants should be steam distilled using little or no heat.  Select oils can also be cold pressed (citrus oils like lemon, orange and grapefruit are cold pressed from the rind of the fruit).  This preserves the natural constituents of the oils, therefore maintaining their full strength.

When I was making my decision of what company to go with, it came down to two.  What really sold me on Young Living was their Seed to Seal Guarantee and the fact that they own their own farms or partner farms.  To some this may not matter, but to me that is a huge deal.  They are able to control the entire process, from planting the seeds in the ground, to harvesting the plants, to distilling & testing the oils (they also use third party testing with some of the best agencies in the world), to finally bottling and storing the oils.  That, in the end, was the final reason that swayed me to Young Living.  Seeing their Seed to Seal process showed me that they can 100% guarantee that their oils are pure and of the best quality.

Another thing I liked was that they invite you to come to the farms!  They want people to come see the distilleries, come work and plant the seeds with them!  Help them weed (all their fields are hand weeded).  They have a full open door policy and I love that.  

When you’re searching for an essential oil company to go with, make sure you really do your research.  Read as much about a company as you can to find out if they are the best fit for you and your family, and make sure what they are selling is 100% pure essential oils and not something you wouldn’t want to use on yourself or your family. 

In the end, even though Young Living essential oils may be on the higher end as far as cost goes, I know with 100% certainty that they are of the highest quality.  And you can’t put a price on my family’s health.  

by Tiffany 

About Tiffany

View all posts by Tiffany

Related Posts

  • My Favorite Essential Oils For Kids
  • 6 ways to reuse empty essential oil bottles
  • Essential oil premium starter kit diffuser blends
  • 8 of the best essential oils for a good night’s sleep
previous article: 21 Week Bump Date: We’re Having A……!!!!!
next article: 5 on Friday: Life Lately

Comments

  1. Kelli {A Deeper Joy} says: November 17, 2015 at 5:45 am

    I love that Young Living has such great quality oils! It gives me comfort that me and my family aren’t putting chemicals into our bodies. And yes! I love that we have our own farms. I had a blast visiting the one in Utah! Thanks for sharing this info, Tiffany!

  2. Biana @ Blovedboston says: November 17, 2015 at 6:01 am

    I think it’s so awesome that if you want to – you’re able to go see where the oils are made!! Definitely a big selling point to their oils! xo, Biana-BlovedBoston

  3. Caroline @ In Due Time says: November 17, 2015 at 7:11 am

    Yes! Yes yes yes! Thanks for sharing the importance of using H I G H quality oils!

  4. Jenny says: November 17, 2015 at 8:34 am

    Great post TIffany! I agree with you, I’d much rather pay a little more and know I’m getting the real thing.

  5. Jaelan @ Making Mrs> m says: November 17, 2015 at 8:39 am

    Essential oils are so confusing to me! There is so much information out there and I never know who to trust. Paige is sending me some samples and I’m excited to try them. I guess it’s time to do my research.

  6. Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says: November 17, 2015 at 1:35 pm

    I’ve wondered about the differences in essential oils. Young Living really needs to branch out and get some roots up here in Canada!

    I try to be picky about my oils but I would love to explore YL more.

    I like how you broke down the various elements that make it “quality”.

    Thanks for sharing.
    xoxo

  7. Caryn at PrettyWellness says: November 17, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    I live a clean lifestyle and just started exploring essential oils. Your points are completely valid and I agree that we should all spend the extra money to assure that we are putting quality ingredients in and on our body.

  8. Paige @ An Uncomplicated Life Blog says: November 19, 2015 at 5:34 am

    Yup, this was one of the biggest things I’ve learned! When I simply smelled YL compared to the brand I was buying at Whole Foods (because hey, oils were oils and it was way easier to pick it up at the store – or so I thought) I was STUNNED. I still have a few of those bottles to show other people. And it’s like the lavender doesn’t even smell like real lavender! I’m not sure what’s in them to change the real smell of the plant, but that’s the point – who knows! I’ll be sticking to YL from here on out 🙂

  9. Jess says: November 20, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    I knew there were differences, but I didn’t know how drastic the differences could be. Thank you for sharing this! I’ll be looking more into this for sure! Thanks for linking up with us for Tuesday Talk! -Jess, Sweet Little Ones

Hello, welcome to A Fit Mom's Life!

Be Social

Search

Join the 7 Days to a Healthier You Challenge for FREE!

Thank you! You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter.

Join the 7 Days to a Healthier You Challenge for FREE!

In 7 days you can be well on your way to a new way of approaching health and wellness.  This FREE 7 day challenge includes daily workouts, nutrition tips, time management techniques and more!

Don't miss out!

Find us on Facebook

Categories

Popular posts

  • What you can do with Wheatgrass

    March 31, 2021
  • How to teach kids good nutrition habits

    February 3, 2021
  • 7 Natural Ingredients to use as part of an Anti-aging Skin Care Routine

    January 6, 2021

Copyright

All the text, images or other content that are a part of this blog are the property of the author, unless otherwise noted. All logos and trademarks are the property of the owner.  You may not duplicate, copy or reproduce any photographs, articles, or material on this blog without my express permission.
For full copyright, see my disclosure page.

About

About Tiffany

Recent Posts

  • What you can do with Wheatgrass
    Health and Fitness, Healthy Living
  • 6 things successful homeschool moms do
    Homeschool

Subscribe to the Blog via Email

Copyright © 2025 · Prima Donna theme by Georgia Lou Studios

Copyright © 2025 · Prima Donna on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT