I have a complicated relationship with essential oils. Several friends whom I respect and adore love them! There is a neverending stream of stories about how they have improved people’s health and well-being. They smell and feel amazing. I own a ton of essential oils…
But I’m not totally convinced that they do everything people claim they do. And I don’t really like the business model of several of the companies that sell them. And I don’t know that there’s a good way to tell across the different companies which one has the superior product. Because they all say they have the superior product. And they all say they can prove it.
I have been pretty faithful to one brand because I have so many friends who sell it and they swear by it. Its packaging is also pretty and they swear they are totally superior in every way to other brands. And I’ve had success with a few of the oils.
Grapefruit energizes me. Their digestive blend relieves my kids’ stomach issues consistently. Peppermint and frankincense mixed together sooth tension headaches.
I even signed up to “sell” it, although I’ve never sold a bottle, just so I could get the “discount” and accrue points. But every month I have to place an order, even when I don’t actually need anything. Otherwise I lose my points. This bugs me.
If the product is so good, why do you have to use tricky sales tactics to get people to keep buying it? And, if all the people who are signed up with the company “above” me get a commission off my purchase, why don’t they just charge less for the oils? The prices have to be massively inflated for so many people to be making so much money every time I buy a bottle of lavender.
So, when I got an email from Jen at Better Essentials, I wanted to give her oils a try. She sent me a few sample bottles and I really liked them. They are well packaged, pour well, and smell and feel similar to their MLM brethren.
The thing is, I do not have a deep-seated belief that essential oils cure everything. I don’t know of a good way to scientifically test them. But their extraction processes seem similar to those of the other companies and on the surface they seem comparable.
Now let’s talk about pricing. Better Essentials market themselves as being high quality with a lower price and they are a lower price than full retail of the other companies. But no one really pays full retail with the big companies. Either you sign up to get the “wholesale” discount, or you get the discount from one of your friends who sells the oils.
Better Essentials oils are very closely price-matched to the wholesale prices of the other companies. So, essentially you paying the same price, but you don’t have to sign up and pledge your loyalty to The Man. If you want to buy something, you just buy it. The end.
So check them out. I liked the free samples they sent and I will likely buy from them again sometime in the future.
***I received free product to sample for this review. All opinions expressed are my own and I received no monetary compensation for this post.***