How to recognize genuine essential oil? 

First steps, or descriptions on the packaging of essential oils

When buying essential oils, pay attention to what is written on the packaging. Many people may not distinguish terms such as “fragrance oil,” “nature-identical oil,” or “perfumed oil” And these names indicate that we are not dealing with a pure, single essential oil!” 

Essential oils should be labeled as “essential oil,” and the Latin name of the plant from which it is extracted should be provided. 

It is also important for the part of the plant undergoing distillation to be specified. For example, we have two essential oils from cinnamon: Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Oil and Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Leaf Oil. Both are distilled from the same plant, but one is from the bark, and the other is from the leaves. Their chemical composition, fragrance, and effects can vary. 

Equally important is the plant variety. For instance, among lavender essential oils, the most sought-after variety is Lavandula angustifolia, which tends to be relatively expensive. 

However, there are various ways in which distributors may adulterate lavender essential oil, and one of them involves substituting “Lavandula angustifolia” with one of thirty-five other lavender varieties, such as Hidcote, Munstead, Peter Pan, and Royal Purple. The most common product used for adulteration is “Lavandula intermedia,” commonly referred to as “Lavandin.” 

The country of origin should also be indicated on the packaging. We can buy French, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian lavender essential oils, each with distinct fragrance, chemical composition, and the choice depends solely on our personal preferences. 

Smell… 

Remember that one of the methods for assessing the quality of the essential oil is by smelling it. And don’t do this directly from the bottle but follow the same procedure as with perfumes. It’s best to pour a drop onto a piece of paper. Smell it and check if a ‘chemical’ scent doesn’t appear after a while. After the oil drop has dried on the paper, there should be no residue. If a greasy stain remains, it indicates that the oil is contaminated or diluted. 

High-quality essential oil cannot be very cheap 

The distillation process, plant harvesting, quality testing, and other production stages affect the price. The most expensive of all essential oils is Rose oil (Rose damascena). To get 5 ml of rose oil, between 15 to 25 kilograms of flowers are needed, so it cannot cost £10. 

How can essential oils be falsified?  

The most common methods of falsifying essential oils available in the literature are as follows: 

• Adding individual raw materials. 
• Adding cheaper essential oils from the same plant but from a different country. 
• Synthetic additives (identical to natural ones) isolated from other oils. 
• Adding isolates or natural ingredients to essential oils. 
• Adding bases or reconstituted essential oil (RCO) to genuine oils/absolutes. 
• Selling one essential oil as another. 
• Mixing with cheaper oils. 

To reduce the costs of essential oils, some suppliers may dilute them with cosmetic oils such as almond oil, coconut oil, etc., or by adding alcohol, surfactants, and emulsifiers. 

As for the drop test on paper, I have already mentioned it above. A simple test to detect an emulsifier in oil is placing a drop in water. Pure essential oil floats on the water’s surface, while emulsified mixtures dissolve in water and produce a milky or opaque solution. 

As you can see, there are quite a few possibilities for falsifying essential oils, but you can really learn a lot and thus avoid mistakes when making a purchase.