Best Essential Oil Reviews 2020

Essential oils, also known as aromatherapy oils, have a wide range of benefits but one thing we know is people who are new to using them often struggle with choosing which ones to start with. In order to help solve this problem, and to save you time, we have researched five of the best essential oil brands, selecting a great essential oil sampler kit from each one. Then we went a step further – for each kit we provided information about one of the essential oils included, offering some great “getting started” information about popular essential oils such as lavender, frankincense, sweet orange and eucalyptus. The quality brands we have featured offer a wide array of essential oils in each kit, as well as individual essential oils for your enjoyment.

Overview

PROS

CONS

SPECS

Kit Includes

Bottle Size

Purity

Spotlight Oil

Uses

Our Top Choice

Fabulous Frannie Aromatherapy Set with Lavender & More

Fabulous Frannie is a small operation named for the founder’s grandmother that makes oils with big aroma and potency, thanks to its strict purification and vegan guidelines.

Kit comes with Lavender, Eucalyptus, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Patchouli, Peppermint, Pine, Rosemary, Spearmint, Sweet Orange, Tangerine, and Tea Tree Oil.

Does not include the company's popular blends, which are available in its Synergy Set with faves such as Happy, Renew, Concentration, De-Stress and 10 others.

14 essential oils

10 ml each

100% pure, vegan

Lavender

Aphrodisiac, calming, detox

Best Value

Essenzia AlternaKids Aromatherapy Kit with Immune Blend & More

Essenzia combs the world for the best quality ingredients, sourcing its plants and extracts from their native locations, and adheres to a strict purification process.

Includes the following blends to boost the health of your family: Immune Blend, Relax & Sleep, Calming Essence, Focus Formula, Breathe Better, and Aches & Pains.

Collections only include essential oils. For topical use, consider purchasing a carrier oil, and for distribution throughout the room you will need a diffuser.

6 essential oils

10 ml each

Blends

Immune Blend

Antibacterial, sleep aid

Young Living Everyday Essential Oils Set with Frankincense & More

Young Living was founded by doctors Gary and Mary Young. They created a farm and distillery in Utah to perfect the process of pure extraction techniques for a superior product.

This kit includes these singles and blends: Frankincense, Lemon, Lavender, Tea Tree, Peppermint, Joy, Purification, PanAway, Thieves, and Stress Away.

Expensive, but superior quality oils.

10 essential oils

5 ml each

100% pure + blends

Frankincense

Uplifting, immunity, relaxation

Eden’s Garden Best of Aromatherapy Set with Sweet Orange & More

Eden’s Garden extracts the pure essence from each plant through cold-pressing to maintain its potency. The company offers delightful kid-friendly blends and a variety of accessories.

This set comes with Sweet Orange, Cinnamon, Grapefruit, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemon, Lime, Patchouli, Peppermint, Tea Tree, Rosemary, and Spearmint.

Blends are not included. If you would like to try out a more expansive kit, Eden’s Garden also offers a Supreme Aromatherapy Kit with 64 varieties.

12 essential oils

10 ml each

100% pure

Sweet Orange

Bright, floral, mood boosting

Art Naturals Essential Oil Set with Eucalyptus & More

Art Naturals offers accessible pricing for a mainstream audience, so you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy the health benefitsof these fragrant essential oils.

Enjoy massage therapy and revitalizing aromatherapy with these 8 essential oils: Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemongrass, Sweet Orange, Rosemary, Peppermint, Frankincense, and Tea Tree.

Does not include some of the company's other fragrant brands, such as the romantic Rosehip oil, or the Signature Zen and Chi blends. These are available for purchase in separate sets.

8 essential oils

10 ml each

100% pure

Eucalyptus

Clean & woody, antiseptic

(Updated September 20, 2017)

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How Do I Choose the Best Essential Oil?

Soothe your soul with aromatherapy, and enjoy the healthy benefits of essential oils harvested straight from Mother Nature. Offering a holistic approach to health and well-being, our top picks use the purest extraction techniques and high-quality ingredients taken from the flowers, leaves, bark, and roots of plants. These beautiful fragrances will brighten your mood and offer many healing benefits. Use them for aromatherapy, yoga and meditation, massage therapy, or as healing medicine.

Let’s take a trip back a few thousand years to see what the ancients knew about health and medicine. Healers harvested essential oils from plants, shrubs, and trees right from the start, using their pure essence to bring balance and perfect harmony to the human body.

You can use essential oils as aromatherapy oil by dispersing them in the air through the use of a diffuser. You can also enjoy the many health benefits by applying them directly to your skin. If that is the case, you will need either an essential oil bottle with a fine-mist sprayer, or a roll-on bottle.

If you do decide to use essential oils through topical application, diluting these potent plant extracts with a good carrier oil such as jojoba or grapeseed oil is a good idea, to avoid any skin irritation.

Price

There are some terrific essential oil kits out there that will run anywhere from $15 to $200. Some of the factors that affect the price are the size of the bottles, the method of extraction, how the plant materials are obtained, and the packaging. Certainly there are some cheap essential oils out there, but the best aromatherapy sets will require you to shell out a little more for purer extraction techniques, and advanced collection of plant materials.

Unfortunately, there is no governing body that regulates essential oils, or the terminology that companies use to describe them. Such terms as “100% pure,” “therapeutic grade,” and “aromatic grade” are used loosely by companies to imply the essential oils they use are certified as such, when there really is no regulation.

A good way to dig a little deeper into what a company actually means by such phrasing is to look for additional comments on its methodology. A good example from one of our featured essential oil kits is Essenzia’s AlternaKids claim that “The company does not allow pesticides, synthetic chemicals, herbicides, GMOs, or harmful chemicals to be used in the growing of its products, or in the distillation process.” Due to "Truth in Advertising" laws that the federal government enforces, companies are not allowed to make this specific statement unless it is true.

Features

There are a few factors that are truly important when it comes to selecting essential oils. One is determining whether you want a single essential oil, or a bottle that incorporates several complementary oils into one called a “blend.” When buying blends, take a look at what ingredients are used to make the recipe. As you become more familiar with the health benefits and scent of each oil, you will have a better sense of which blends will best suit your needs, and your tastes.

You'll also want to look at the size of the bottle. Some bottles are small sample sizes, while others are large and only appropriate if you are sure you’ll be using a lot of it.

The other important factor you need to know is the method of distillation. This is how the company extracts the essence of the plant and turns it into an essential oil. Let’s take a look at the extraction techniques different companies use in greater detail:

Steam Distillation — In this method, hot steam is used to extract the tiny molecules of essential oil in the plant. The oil is then captured in a separate chamber, while another chamber holds the leftover water, which carries a lovely scent. This leftover water is called hydrosol, and is often used as a fragrance for lotions and sprays.
Cold-Pressing — Primarily used with citrus fruits. The rind is pressed to extract the aromatic oils. This method is considered to be one of the purer methods of extracting the essence from the material.
Carbon Dioxide Extraction — Carbon dioxide is either chilled to between 35-55 degrees
Fahrenheit, or heated to 87 degrees Fahrenheit, and then blasted through the plant materials to extract the essential oils as a potent vapor. Both CO2 and cold-pressing are considered to create a more pure plant extract, as excessive heat is not used, to avoid damaging some of the properties of the plant.
Enfleurage — This is an ancient technique of housing the plant material in a shallow layer of fatty oil that is warmed enough to extract the essential oils from the plant, infusing it into the oil. A solvent such as alcohol is then used to extract the essential oil from the fat. The leftover and fragrant fatty oil is then used in products such as soap to add a lovely scent.
Solvent Extraction — Chemical solvents such as hexane or benzene are imposed upon the plant matter to extract the essential oils. You may see these chemical solvents referred to as absolutes. While much of the solvent evaporates or is spun off in a centrifuge during the process, there can be trace amounts of the chemical imparted into the essential oil, making this extraction technique not quite as pure.

Construction and Design

When it comes to purchasing essential oils, it is crucial that the bottle is dark to preserve the beneficial essence of the oil.

Different parts of the plant are used for their essence, depending on which part of the plant is considered most potent and beneficial. Some oils are made up primarily of the leaves, such as mint, eucalyptus, and tea tree. Others, such as lavender, are extracted from the flower. Essential oils such as cedar wood are harvested from the wood, and oils such as cinnamon oil are harvested from bark.

Many essential oils come in kits, so you can start your own homemade pharmacy. Some kits are designed for aromatherapy, and others for specific health benefits. Be sure to select a kit that is ideal for your needs, and explore a few new oils every now and then, to expand your repertoire.

Some kits are beautifully designed and make an exciting gift for someone you love. They will likely hold these precious little bottles of plant extracts very dear to their heart.

Performance and Ease of Use

There are so many wonderful ways to use essential oils. You can ingest them, perfume the air, perfume your body, or help heal ailments through topical application. You can also add them to other products, to enhance the experience of using those products. Let’s check out some of the different ways you can use your essential oils:

Topical Application — If you’d like to wear your essential oils as a perfume, or use them topically for health benefits, you will need a carrier oil to dilute the essential oil, to make sure you don’t have a skin reaction. Spray bottles and roll-on bottles can be purchased to use with your favorite essential oils for topical application.
Air Freshener —To fill the room with the healing essence and scent of your favorite essential oils, you will need a diffuser. Many diffusers are quite beautiful and will do wonders to enhance the ambience of any room. You’ll never want to go back to that spray bottle from the grocery store again. There are even kits designed especially as car fresheners, to enhance the atmosphere while you drive.
Edible Essential Oils — Some essential oils can also be ingested to add flavor and health benefits to food and beverages. They must be certified as GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) by the FDA. That is still not an assurance of how your body will react to the high potency of an essential oil. Test it out first, with just a single drop in a glass of water, to see how strong it is, and to be sure your body does not have a reaction. Also purchase oils that are harvested with a pure extraction technique, such as cold-pressing.

What is the Best Essential Oil?

It’s hard to pick just one, isn’t it? We know that, so we’ve picked beautiful sampler kits from each brand that offer a variety to choose from. To make your choice even easier, we have selected one popular oil included in each sample kit (also available for individual sale), highlighting that oil’s health benefits and the ambience it creates. Let’s get started with these exciting essential oils, and all the ways you can use them to improve your health and brighten your mood.

Our Top Choice

Fabulous Frannie makes a wonderful range of 100% pure essential oils, like the classic and soothing lavender oil, which can be used to unwind and de-stress, or as a topical fragrance when applied with a carrier oil. Fabulous Frannie sells individual bottles of lavender oil as well.

Fabulous Frannie Essential Oil Set, Featuring Lavender and 13 Other Top Aromatherapy Oils — 4.73 Fluid Ounces Each

Fabulous Frannie Essential Oils Geo-14 - Sampler Kit

Features

Fabulous Frannie operates under the adage “If you want to be the best, you have to give your best.” To keep its essential oils 100% pure, they are produced in small batches for quality control purposes, and all products are vegan and produced cruelty-free. The line includes blends and classic essential oils, as well as soaps, candles, men’s grooming products, and various accessories.

We have selected Fabulous Frannie’s Essential Oil 14 Pack Aromatherapy Set because it includes many classic essential oils that you will love. Not only can you enjoy plenty of variety with this set, but you are sure to find a few personal favorites as well.

Let’s take a look at one of the essential oils included in this set in greater detail:

Lavender — Enjoy your own personal little get-away in a bottle with this extract from the Lavandula Angustifolia plant. Native to the Mediterranean, the name is derived from the Latin word “lavare” which means to wash. Lavender is prized for its clean aroma and often used in soaps and shampoos. Many lotions and skin products use lavender, as it is known to disinfect the skin, improve circulation, and heal dandruff and eczema. Dried lavender flowers and essential oil are also a fragrant preventative against moths.

Here's the full list of the 100% pure essential oils included in this aromatherapy set. Each bottle is contains 10 ml (.33 oz) -

Lavender: calming, soothes skin
Eucalyptus: woody, opens the lungs and improves circulation
Grapefruit: citrus scent, stimulant, anti-depressant
Lemon: clean, stimulating, detoxifying
Lemongrass: bright aroma, improves digestion, kills fungus
Lime: restorative, antiseptic
Patchouli: aphrodisiac, improves skin conditions
Peppermint: fresh clean scent, improves bad breath, soothes digestion
Pine: fresh evergreen aroma, disinfectant
Rosemary: woody, slows graying and prevents baldness
Spearmint: uplifting, treats wounds and ulcers
Sweet Orange: bright notes, prevents stress and anxiety
Tangerine: citrus scent, antispasmodic, sedative
Tea Tree: potent pine-like aroma, treats acne, chickenpox, fungal infections

If you don't want these oils, check out some of the other essential oils by Fabulous Frannie here.

Best Value

The AlternaKids collection by Essenzia offers a range of health-boosting blends to cover the needs of the whole family. If you would like to try just one, we recommend its Immune Blend to keep the kids healthy during cold and flu season.

Essenzia AlternaKids Aromatherapy Kit — Featuring Immune Blend and 5 Other Health Boosting Essential Oils — 10ml Each Bottle

Essenzia Essential Oils - ALTERNAKID Sampler Kit

Features

Essential Oils made by Essenzia are harvested from indigenous plants grown in their native countries. This is a direct-to-consumer online company that offers 100% pure essential oils. Essenzia values honesty and transparency, so its oils are rigorously tested to adhere to high standards. The company does not allow pesticides, synthetic chemicals, herbicides, GMOs, or harmful chemicals to be used in the growing of its products, or in the distillation process.

With the AlternaKids essential oil kit, we wanted to include a brand that is focused on the health benefits of essential oils that so many parents prize. With blends that include purified oils that calm, disinfect, relieve congestion, and improve clarity and focus, this kit is a keeper for its medicinal benefits that the whole household can enjoy.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the essential oil blends included with this purchase:

Immune Blend — This blend is designed to support immunity by incorporating essential oils known to have antibacterial and germicidal properties, like lemon and rosemary oil. Other ingredients that develop the great smell and antiseptic properties of this 100% pure essential oil and help improve respiration are frankincense, eucalyptus, sweet orange, and tea tree oil.

Here is the complete list of oil blends you will receive with this kit:

Immune Blend: Frankincense, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Sweet Orange, Rosemary, Lemon
Relax & Sleep: Lavender, Marjoram, Patchouli, Mandarin, Geranium, Chamomile
Calming Essence: Bergamot, Ylang Ylang, Grapefruit, Patchouli, Blood Orange
Focus Formula: Basil, Lemon, Bergamot, Grapefruit
Breathe Better: Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Peppermint
Aches & Pains: Wintergreen, Camphor, Pine

Don't want a full set? Browse all the Alternakids essential oils by Essenzia that are offered for individual purchase.

If you don’t want to purchase a whole set of Young Living Essential Oils, you can try just one of its popular varieties, like its 100% pure Frankincense Oil in a 15 ml bottle. It works well as a fragrance or antiseptic.

Young Living Everyday Essential Oils Collection — Featuring Frankincense & 9 Other Single Oils and Blends, 5ml Each Bottle

Young Living Essential Oils 3695 - Sampler Kit

Features

Young Living Oils was founded by doctors Gary and Mary Young, who became enamored with the health benefits of essential oils, but found the quality varied greatly. In 1993, they began their very own farming and distillation operation. Using a thorough quality-control Seed to Seal process to preserve the potency of each oil, they have grown from their headquarters in Lehi, Utah to a worldwide operation.

Young Living offers the perfect combination of a broad range of essential oils that include some of the most popular oils the brand has to offer. Included in this kit are classic favorites such as Frankincense, Lemon, and Peppermint, as well as uplifting blends like Joy.

Here's a look at one of these essential oils in more detail:

Frankincense — Prized for its antiseptic and disinfecting qualities, this oil is extracted from the resin of the Olibanum tree (Boswellia Carteri). Used throughout antiquity as a fragrance and for its health benefits, frankincense goes as far back as ancient Egypt and is frequently used in religious rites. It is particularly useful for oral health, alleviating cold sores, bad breath, and tooth decay.

Here are the 10 high quality essential oils you receive with this collection:

Frankincense: lemon/pine scent, reduces pain and inflammation, fights cancer
Lemon: clean, stimulating, detoxifying
Lavender: calming, soothes skin
Tea Tree: pine scent, treats acne, chickenpox, fungal infections
Peppermint: fresh clean scent, improves bad breath, soothes digestion
Joy: blissful w/Bergamot, Ylang Ylang, Geranium, Lemon, Coriander, Tangerine, Jasmine, Chamomile, Rose
Purification: eliminates odors w/ Lemongrass, Rosemary, Myrtle, Tea Tree, Lavandin, Citronella
Pain Away: stimulating w/Wintergreen, Clove, Helichrysum, Peppermint
Thieves: spicy w/ Clove, Rosemary, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus
Stress Away: comforting and relaxing with Lime and Vanilla

Look at some of the other great mood boosters by Young Living such as Christmas Spirit and Palo Santo, here.

With this great sampler set, you can enjoy selecting from 12 different varieties with our featured collection by Eden’s Garden, or select one of its single oils, such as the bright floral notes available in the Sweet Orange 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil in a 10ml bottle.

Eden’s Garden — Beginners Best of the Best Aromatherapy Gift Set, Featuring Sweet Orange and 11 Other 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils, 10 ml each bottle

Eden’s Garden Essential Oils - Sampler Kit

Features

Eden’s Garden is a lifestyle brand that aims to help you enjoy your life to the utmost. By developing a variety of essential oils, from traditional to creative blends that promote relaxation and well-being, it provides 100% pure essential oils, available as singles or in beautiful collections that make an excellent gift. Its suite of products includes roll-ons and kid-friendly synergy blends. They also make a variety of accessories to complement the lifestyle of an essential oil enthusiast, such as carrying cases and amber bottles so you can design your own blends.

Our featured Best of the Best Aromatherapy Kit is a delightful kit of classics and a great way to create more ambience and well-being in your life. With mood elevating scents like Grapefruit, Spearmint, Sweet Orange and Cinnamon, you can perk up your mood and environment all day long. Skin-soothing oils like Tea Tree and Lavender are also part of this kit.

Here is a spotlight on one particular oil offered in the collection that is a favorite:

Sweet Orange — Eden’s Garden safeguards the purification process when extracting the essence of sweet orange through the cold-press method. Cold pressing maintains the potency of the essential oil, as it avoids damage that heat extraction may cause. This oil is the essence from the peel of the fruit of the Sweet Orange tree, an evergreen that grows in Italy. It's rich in vitamins A, B, and C, which boosts the immune system. With a burst of citrus aroma, this oil balances and improves the emotions and blends very well when combined with Cinnamon.

Let’s take a look at the full range of oils included in this collection:

Sweet Orange: bright notes, prevents stress and anxiety
Cinnamon: warm aroma, sugar stabilizer, antiparasitic
Grapefruit: citrus scent, stimulant, anti-depressant
Eucalyptus: woody, opens the lungs and improves circulation
Lavender: calming, soothes skin
Lemon: clean, stimulating, detoxifying
Lime: restorative, antiseptic
Patchouli: aphrodisiac, improves skin conditions
Peppermint: fresh clean scent, improves bad breath, soothes digestion
Tea Tree: pine smell, treats acne, chickenpox, fungal infections
Rosemary: woody, slows graying and prevents baldness
Spearmint: uplifting, treats wounds and ulcers

View some of the other essential oils by Eden’s Garden, such as Bergamot and Frankincense, here.

Art Naturals essential oils are available in larger sets. You can also purchase a small trio package offering 4 ounces of your favorite oil like Eucalyptus, and 2 smaller 10ml bottles of its popular Signature Zen and Chi blends, a great accompaniment for yoga and meditation practice.

Art Naturals Top 8 Essential Oils - Featuring Eucalyptus and 7 Other Classic Essential Oils, 10ml Each Bottle

Art Naturals Essential Oils E8 - Sampler Kit

Features

Art Naturals gets its ingredients from the far reaches of the planet, from Morocco to Australia. It develops fine essential oils through the steam distillation process, and offers wonderful aromatherapy oils at very affordable prices. Enjoy single oils or blends, or you can select one of the signature kits to try a variety of oils to suit your needs and moods.

This Top Essential Oils kit includes classic oils that offer therapeutic and aromatic benefits. Enjoy this kit for your own personal pleasure, or share the joy and well-being these essential oils provide by purchasing it as a gift for your favorite friends and family members.

Let’s take a look at one of the oils featured in this kit:

Eucalyptus — With a potent breathable essence for improved respiration, this oil is made by extracting the essence from the plant Eucalyptus radiata through steam distillation of the leaves taken from the shrubs and trees. As a wonderful soothing essential oil for sore and tired muscles, it has cleansing properties and a forest-like aroma that deodorizes the environment and promotes feelings of self-empowerment and strength

Included in this Top 8 Collection are the following oils:

Eucalyptus: woody, opens the lungs and improves circulation
Lemongrass: bright aroma, improves digestion, kills fungus
Lavender: calming, soothes skin
Sweet Orange: bright notes, prevents stress and anxiety
Tea Tree: potent pine-like aroma, treats acne, chickenpox, fungal infections
Peppermint: fresh clean scent, improves bad breath, soothes digestion
Frankincense: lemon/pine scent, reduces pain and inflammation, fights cancer
Rosemary: woody, slows graying and prevents baldness

Get some of the other essential oils by Art Natural, such as Argan, Rosehip, and Lemon, here.

Get the Best Essential Oil of 2020!

With their simple pleasures of beautiful scents and improved well-being, essential oils are a part of a healthy lifestyle.
These essential oils are harvested from the purest plants, trees, and flowers, and offer many wonderful benefits. Improve your lifestyle with one of these essential oil kits from brands dedicated to your health and well-being.

Our Top Choice

Fabulous Frannie Aromatherapy Set with Lavender & More

Best Value

Essenzia AlternaKids Aromatherapy Kit with Immune Blend & More

Young Living Everyday Essential Oils Set with Frankincense & More

Eden’s Garden Best of Aromatherapy Set with Sweet Orange & More

Art Naturals Essential Oil Set with Eucalyptus & More