Best Quality Essential Oils Checklist —Questions to Ask Before You Buy

By Caryn Gelhmann, Clinical Aromatherapist

How can you tell if the essential oils you buy are the best quality? Does it matter that much? Should I just look for the best price? Great questions! I hear these questions all the time so for this month’s Q&A with Caryn I’m sharing my Best Quality Essential Oils Checklist. This is the checklist I use when buying oils from suppliers to ensure all essential 3 products are of the highest quality.

Let’s begin by discussing the importance of quality. While the purity of the aroma is one aspect, the overall quality of essential oils goes beyond just their scent. When using essential oils for therapeutic purposes, it’s crucial to select oils that are pure, unadulterated, and appropriate for their intended use. While some oils, like citrus oils, should be as fresh as possible due to their tendency to oxidize, others, such as sandalwood or vetiver, can improve with age, developing a deeper, more complex aroma. Adulterated or compromised essential oils can lead to unpredictable therapeutic outcomes and may increase the risk of skin irritation or allergic reactions.

Testing is a Must to Be Sure the Essential Oils Are High-Quality

How do you make sure you’re buying the best quality essential oils? Here’s the short answer, testing is the only way to ensure the highest quality. You want to make sure that any essential oils you purchase have the following tests:

GC or GLC: Gas Chromatography or Gas Liquid Chromatography
A measurement tool that is able to vaporize each molecule of the essential oil and quantify the percentage of the constituent present. However, this test does not tell us what that constituent is.

FID: Flame Ionization Detection (used in conjunction with Gas Chromatography)
FID provides increased accuracy in the quantitative results specific to GC test information. Please note, FID testing is not done by all labs providing GC/GLC testing.

MS: Mass Spectrometry
Determines the molecular mass of each molecule, therefore, identifying each constituent of the essential oil.

Visit e3’s Quality Testing page to see examples of what the testing results look like, and to learn more about our vigorous testing process.

Checklist of Questions to Ask Essential Oil Suppliers

This checklist is important whether you’re buying a bottle for personal use or are investing in essential oils to create a private-label product.

Q: Are your oils tested?

Here’s what you want to hear: Yes, it’s tested by an independent lab and read and evaluated by a chemist.

If they do not test or have their oils tested, move on to another supplier.

If they do test, ask these questions:

Q: What tests are done? Gas-Liquid Chromatography (GC or GLC), Mass Spectroscopy (MS), and even better if they also run Flame Ionization Detection (FID).

Q:  Can you provide a Certificate of Analysis (C of A) with products purchased? Certificate of Analysis will be the document that provides testing data.

Q:  Can you provide Safety Data Sheets (SDS) with each of your essential oils? The answer must be a Yes as each supplier is required to have MSDS sheets on site to meet OSHA regulations.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Here are the things you want to look for when you review the test results:

• No — Undisclosed Stretching: This is a high-price oil, diluted with a low-price oil. It’s fine to knowingly purchase a product like this, but you don’t want to be fooled into thinking it’s a precious oil when it’s not.
• No — Synthetics or “Nature Identical” Chemicals: Read more about this topic How to Make Essential Oil Chemical-Free Fragrance.
• No — Pesticides: Read more in the article Pure vs Organic Essential Oils – Is One Better?
• Yes — Right Percentage of Chemical Constituents: These constituents, which can only be identified by testing, must be in the percentage range required for the therapeutic benefits specific to that oil.

Q: What kind of packaging do they use?

Essential oils should be bottled in glass as they may react with plastic.  Do not purchase an essential oil in a bottle with a rubber stopper; the essential oil will eat the rubber.

Q: What kind of information do they provide, on their label or documentation?

The information you receive with your oil should include the following:

• Botanical or Latin name
• Part of the plant used
• Country of origin
• Extraction process

See the links to get a more thorough explanation of why this information is so important. Learn more about what to look for on a label in the article Guidelines for Choosing Natural Skin Care Products.

Q: What’s the price?

While this shouldn’t be the only question, it does factor into your decision. Be wary of a supplier that offers a product that is a much lower price than their competitors. It could be an indication of a lower-quality product. Of course, the price can also be affected by the company’s business structure, product specialization, target market base, purchasing knowledge, purchasing ability, etc.

Q: Is it organic?

An organic label indicates that it was not grown with pesticides but that’s all it tells you! So for example, a bad weather year may yield an organic oil, but the chemical constituents have been compromised thus affecting the integrity of the oil. Read this article to learn more Pure vs Organic Essential Oils – Is One Better?

I hope you find this checklist helpful in your search for the best quality essential oils. At e3, we are known for aromatherapy safety. Too often, unsafe application methods are promoted by untrained individuals attempting to sell essential oils. This is why we stress the need to get educated — this way you can avoid the misinformation being circulated and use essential oils safely according to your unique needs and circumstances.

If you want to educate yourself about essential oils please download our free guide,  Listen To Your Nose — An Introduction to Aromatherapy. (Psst…it has a 20% Off coupon you can use on your first order!)

Do you have more questions? Our experienced staff of Clinical Aromatherapists and healthcare professionals are happy and ready to support you. We take the time to listen, answer your questions, and suggest personalized aromatherapy solutions tailored to your practice, facility, or personal use.