When it comes to essential oils, it’s important to remember that going with the cheapest option isn’t always best. For effectiveness, they should be 100% pure, otherwise, you’re wasting your hard earned money, as low-quality oils don’t offer the benefits that a high-quality essential oil does.

With fake essential oils, you might as well be putting water onto your skin – or, sometimes even worse as some poor quality oils have been adulterated and potentially come with harmful side effects.

So how do you know if you’re getting a fake essential oil instead of the real thing? These signs are all excellent clues.

Check out What Happened When I Tried Essential Oils For the First Time

7 Signs Your Essential Oils Are Fake

1. Oil Storage

Is the essential oil you’re buying stored inside a plastic or clear glass? Most companies sell quality oils in a dark colored glass bottle. Storing the oil in a glass container is essential due to the strong chemical compounds in the oil that break down and react when coming in contact with plastic. The glass needs to be a dark color too, such as amber or dark blue, in order to keep the oil from ultraviolet degradation.

Plastic is only acceptable where the essential oils have already been pre-diluted in a carrier oil (e.g. ‘Ready to use’ massage blends; shower gels etc.)

2. The Name of The Oil

If you’re shopping for Essential Oils, make sure the essential oil includes the common name of the oil as well as the Latin name. If the Latin name isn’t there, it may actually be a non-essential oil that simply has perfume added to give it its scent.

A professional brand will usually include the country of origin, ingredients, batch number, expiry date, storage information, safety advice and details about the company. And watch out for spelling mistakes – never a good sign!

3. The Cost of the Oil

It’s a good idea to be cautions of an essential oil with a very low price. A high-quality essential oil usually does come with a fairly high price tag. That’s because it takes a rather astonishing amount of plant to produce them.

4. How the Oil was Harvested and Produced

Because essential oils are created from plants, buying an organic oil is important in order to avoid potential pesticide contamination.  If price is a serious concern, the most important type of essential oil to purchase as organic is citrus oils as they’ve been shown to contain the most pesticides. This is one of the main reasons I chose Young Living Essential Oils is because of their process and their Seed To Seal Promise.

5. The Oil Label

The label should always indicate if the essential oil is 100% pure essential oil. If it doesn’t, that means there’s a high chance that it’s been altered, or mixed with something else. For an oil to be effective, it needs to be pure.

6. Professional Website and Contact Info

The internet is full of bogus sellers of essential oils. Try to avoid buying from anonymous, third party sellers on eBay and Amazon– look for a company with a professional website, including full contact details of their address and phone number.

7. How the Oil Dissolves

To produce an essential oil cheaply, like for cosmetic purposes, an essential oil will include surfactants or emulsifiers or both.  When placed in water, these essential oils dissolve and produce a milky or opaque solution whereas the pure essential oil will float on top of the water.

Oily Tip: if you are using essential oils in your bath water, place a cup of Epson salt in your tub; drop the essential oil on the salt; and then run your water to separate the essential oils molecules throughout your bath water.

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Do Your Own Research

The negative about the above list? A counterfeit essential oils company can still do everything they can to make their products appear to be authentic. They can falsely claim they’re 100% pure, authentic, therapeutic—they can even make up their own certification for it. That’s why it is so important to do your own research. When it comes to aromatherapy you do not want to skip out on quality.

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