Where to Buy Essential Oils?

Thanks for this link,they look absolutely delicious...I may try and order some wholesale and sell them here in NZ,I think these would go down well...

Check out Starchild aromatics as well from the UK...they are devine...

thanks for the eden botanicals tip :)
I just ordered some samples from them - can't wait!

what an extensive list they have -- they even had oud!

wow :)

I just bought a few samples from Eden and I was very happy with all of them -- they even included a gift of patchouli, which I didn't think I wanted, but it was completely different from the sort of thing you smell in head shops!

Their Oud reminded me of building a new house, how the fresh wood smells when they're sawing it... but amplified.

The frankincense was very green-smelling, but it mixed nicely with a bit of amber.

I also got some Cepes, which is a fungal fragrance -- green and musky -- I'm looking forward to mixing it.

The last thing I got was cardamom, which was as you might expect. Looking forward to mixing that one as well.

Their line seems very distincive, but it's very affordable to order samples, so I suggest doing that when selecting.

these are great leads, thanks!

i used to buy from brain garden (i met dr. penoel and attended a lecture in los cabos a couple years ago -- a true essential oil guru from france -- wrote many books -- highest quality ever - however, brain garden has since merged with another company and it's not easy to make my connection anymore)

it has been recommended to use young oils, however, i have declined because i am not impressed with their company leaders and many of their distributors

so i purchased from nature's sunshine, and they're okay, but not the high quality of brain garden

i bought from a place called IAmShaman, and while they have wonderful other stuff, the oil i bought bleached out, burned and otherwise discolored my pink ceramic angel oil holder, so you know it had to have lotsa alcohol in it

also, the brand "now" at many local health food stores is extremely low quality and cut with everything, actually caused me such extreme breathing difficulty i had to hit the nebulizer for relief

i make my own household sprays and perfume misters (sometimes i use 100 proof vodka to preserve, works wonderful!)

i am extremely sensitive to chemicals and so i am always always on the lookout for highest quality and the best (of anything, for that matter)

sometimes i buy windmere from my local metaphysical bookstore and food co-op, they're okay, but i'm always looking -- trying to get back to the quality of brain garden

so thanks again

After years and years of buying online and elsewhere, I would agree that Liberty Natural is a great all around resource. Also, I feel that I would rather spend my dollars with someone who is honest and very helpful over the phone when needed. I am planning a field trip to Nevada City in the next few months and will go to the Floracopeia store and try to make a report back. David Crow is an impressive writer and I would have to assume that his oils are very special and worth the extra expense.

thanks, kj
when all is said & done
would appreciate hearing your conclusions
i.e., your preferences and how you rate their quality
(substandard service i can live with, if it means the best quality oils)
in the meantime, i am going to write dr. penoel in france

I love violet and have searched for years, but there is no natural violet flower absolute available (years ago they made it but it was insanely expensive), Violet leaf absolute is available (from places like liberty natural) but it smells intensely green with a suble floral nuance on the drydown.
Synthetics are tricky because people have different preferences as to what is "good" but there are a number of products based on ionones that smell like violet flowers. Some are more powdery and candylike and some are more green, some more floral. CB I Hate Perfume in Brooklyn has a very true violet avaiable and I believe you can order smaller sizes to try out online.

www.royalaromatics.com

Looks like they may have some OK prices for the enthusiast, but they don't seem very technical. There are lots of different types of frankincense, petitgrains and lavenders for ex., and they don't specify what they have, they just have one generic label for each. Not to mention exotic oils like Oud, which are notoriously faked, and that site doesn't mention at all what the provenance is for theirs.

If you just want to enjoy some nice oils, they're probably fine, but there are a number of more exacting vendors around, in case you are interested in more serious blending, etc.

Yes, I would agree, the specialty vendors are definitely the better option when scent-crafting.

However, places like Whole Foods are great in a pinch, when you need something basic. For ex., I needed to exterminate for moths recently, and the NOW lavender and rosemary oils they had were perfect for the job - and cheap!

My wool rugs were grateful :D