I recently did a Facebook Live in the Restorative Aromatics group on the low down on choosing essential oils brands and the importance of purity mostly because there are hundreds of oils and no one place seems to carry them all. Frustrating, isn't it?
It can be a challenge finding brands of essential oils when it comes to purchasing high quality, pure, unadulterated essential oils. As an aromatherapist, I often need to find different essential oils to experiment with for my certification classes and sometimes they are out of stock at your preferred company or they do not carry them at all. Most companies claim to be 100% pure... therapeutic grade... etc. Some of this is just marketing speak pure and simple since there is no official governing body that certifies essential oils as "pure" or "therapeutic grade." So anyone can use these terms. Cost doesn't always equate to quality, but it is a good indicator when price matching between companies - roughly the oil should be in the same price range.
We all have our brand loyalty and sometimes it is hard to move to using multiple brands for your oil collection. A lot of companies will get their oils from the same brokers and distilleries, so there may not be a huge difference in some oils from company to company. There are some companies that own their own farms, but many including those, partner with other brokers to provide their products. Most essential oil companies carry upwards of 100 or more different essential oils - so it would not be feasible to own farms all over the world or it would be cost prohibitive.
One of the key things I look for with essential oil companies is that if they release their GC/MS (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) reports on their website which gives you the range of chemical constituents in each oil as well as the range of percentages of those chemical constituents according to ISO standards. For instance, Lavender has a high linalool content and it should be within the range of 25-38%. More or less is out of range and may effect its therapeutic quality.
I've used dozens of different essential oil brands over the years and have had to research many companies and oils and found several that I really like. I purchased a lot of essential oils through Young Living, and while I do love their oils, I recognize that MLM companies are not for everyone. Here are some of the companies that I like the most. They all post their GC/MS reports on their websites, which is important and have relevant information about the essential oils on their websites as well. I recently looked up an essential oil on a company website and all it literally said was that "this oil can be used topically." No other information was provided!
I recommend watching the video below The MYTH-stake That Only One Company Has Quality Essential Oils. In the video, he samples Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint from six different essential oils companies and had them tested by a third party lab to analyze how their chemical constituencies compare to each other. He keeps the companies anonymous in the results, but you can see the similarities and vast differences in the oils from company to company.