Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Update: I just posted a long overdue update to this post! I finally found a thieves oil that I love…and it’s inexpensive! Hop over to this post to find out which oil I went with.
As I’ve started getting into essential oils thieves oils has hands down become one of my favorite oils. It smells great, has amazing benefits and can be used topically (with a carrier oil) or diffused. My love of thieves oil started with my Young Living Thieves Oil. But at $42.99 per bottle the price seemed a little steep to me. So I started researching other essential oil businesses that have thieves oil blends. doTerra has a blend called On Guard which is almost exactly like the Young Living Thieves blend that retails for $42.67. Eden’s Garden also has a Four Thieves Blend that retails for $21.50. There are other Thieves blends out there, but these are the 3 I’ve had a chance to try out so I’m going to tell you the good and the bad for these three.
Young Living Thieves Oil
Ingredients:
Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus radiata and Rosemary
The Smell:
The Young Living Thieves Oil has a very distinct cinnamon and clove blend smell. If you love cinnamon you will love the smell of the Young Living blend.
The Oil:
The oil is one of the thicker oils of the three brands I tried.
The Price:
Retail: $42.99
doTerra On Guard Blend
The Ingredients:
Wild Orange, Clove, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Rosemary
The Smell:
doTerra On Guard smells identical to the Young Living Thieves Blend. Even though one uses lemon and one uses orange you could never tell the difference. They both have the distinct cinnamon and clove smell.
The Oil:
The oil itself was exactly like the Young Living blend. Both blends are thicker than the Eden’s Garden blend.
The Price:
$42.67 Retail
Eden’s Garden Four Thieves Blend
The Ingredients:
Cinnamon, Clove, Eucalyptus, Lemon and Rosemary
The Smell:
Eden’s Garden Four Thieves has a distinct Eucalyptus smell. The Eucalyptus far outweighs any of the other ingredients.
The Oil:
The oil itself was much thinner than the Young Living and doTerra Oils. As a matter of fact all of the Eden’s Garden Oils are thinner (some bloggers have described the oil as “runny”).
The Price:
Retail: $21.50
So now that I’ve given you the details of the oils I’m going to tell you the problems that I have with each of the companies. While I much prefer the Young Living Thieves Oil Blend of the three of these oils I can’t stand their business model. I will admit that I signed on as a distributor to get the Everyday Oils package with diffuser. The reason why I signed up as a distributor is because this is the ONLY way I could get the Everyday Oils with Diffuser package. They do not sell this package to any customers unless you sign on as a distributor. *Update*: Young Living does now offer the starter kit for customers. This was not the case when I orginally wrote this article. I get why they do this. They want to build their selling team. Here is where I have the problem with it and where other distributors have run into issues. You are required to give Young Living your social security number to get the Everyday Oils Kit with diffuser. So even if you just want the kit and have no intentions of selling their oils you still have to give your social security number. Many distributors have lost out on many sales because of this. Not cool.
*Update 10/21/15*: I no longer consider myself a Young Living distributor. I still love their oils and encourage people to buy them, but I’m better off posting an Amazon affiliate link (which I have done) and get commision from that than direct someone to Young Living and get NO commission. As I mentioned above I have a problem with their business model. They do not give commission to their distributors unless the distributor has purchased $100 in products each month. This is just insane to me! So to break this down to you if I were to sell a bottle of Thieves Oil to someone I would have to spend $100 to get my $15 commission. Ummm…bullshit. So needless to say I refuse to push this business model.
Now onto doTerra. doTerra has a similar business model to Young Living (their founders actually used to be with Young Living and broke away from Young Living to form doTerra). Now I can’t say for sure what the sign up process is for doTerra or if they make their selling process any easier than Young Living since I haven’t explored that part of their business (nor do I want to). The problem I have with doTerra is their “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” label. *cough, cough* Bullshit!This is a bullshit label as there is no certifying board that decides which oils are certified pure therapeutic grade. And furthermore doTerra has the CPTG label trademarked so even if there were a certifying board that decided this sort of thing no other oil company could use the CPTG label except for doTerra. A little shady and deceptive, don’t ya think?
Now as for Eden’s Garden I haven’t been able to pull up too much dirt on them. I haven’t been as impressed by the quality of their oils, but the prices are a lot more reasonable. And the fact that you can just go to their web site and order their products easily is a good selling point for me. Eden’s Garden is a company that I want to research some more before committing myself to their oils. The price is right, but I’m not 100% sold on their oils. I ordered several of their oils to test them out so as I use them more I will let you all know what I think.
For now, I will end this post saying that I am still on the search for the perfect essential oil business (if one even exists). And I will also leave you with this major warning. If you are ever buying oils from a distributor that claims they were internally consume all of the oils they sell walk away. While there are oils that are safe for internal consumption, there are many, many oils that are not. Anyone who claims all of their oils are safe for internal consumption is dangerous and should not be trusted.
Thanks for the review. I tend to buy just one essential oil and not blends, so I like reading about what people think of the blends.
I have a mostly single essential oils, but of the blends thieves is my favorite.
try Mother E
Perfect timing! I have been wondering the differences between the different essential oils. This post helps a lot. I’ve pinned it for future reference 🙂
I’m glad you found this helpful! Essential oils research can get really overwhelming! If you ever have any questions feel free to give me a shout.
Hi I was reading your article and I was wondering if you have any news on Edens Garden I buy their product and I like it but than I hear about doterra and YL and start thinking maybe Edens garden isn’t that pure? So if you have any news on how pure Edens Garden please reply. Thank you
Hi there. I love Edens Garden oils. I initially bought them because of the price of their oils, but they have no middleman to put on the payroll, so they can keep their oils fairly inexpensive. I’ve received some incredible results using their oils, so I feel they are as pure as the company claims them to be. Plus, their customer service is out of this world. I can’t speak for YL or doTerra and their CS, but I trust EG. Yes, their oils have a “for external use” tag on them, but they do NOT just go out and tell you that you can ingest the oils. Their FAQs page specifically says to seek the advice of an aromatherapist if you want to ingest oils. There’s too much controversy on whether oils are save to ingest or not, so they don’t even play with that idea. Obviously, I highly recommend them, but do your own research and see what you feel comfortable with.
Edens Garden has great essential oil, single and blends and had earned a lot of respect in the aromatherapy world. I use them and have never been disapointed. I also like Aroma Land essential oils,Piping Rock,Rocky Mountain essential oils, Hope Well essential Oils Biosource Naturals essential oils, Somatherapy eo,
these days you just gotta be SO careful – everybody and their mother’s out there making these things these days…
I didn’t even know there were essential oil BLENDS. We use a few essential oils in our home 🙂
~ Kimberly
I didn’t realize there were blends until recently. I had heard people talk about thieves oil, but I never really knew what it was until a friend of mine showed me her collection of oils. She had at least 100 bottles of different oils!
I didn’t know there was so much difference in companies. I have heard a lot of good things about that blend but I see how pricey it is.
I’ve just started getting into essential oils so I love it when I can find something that breaks it all down for me. Thank you!
Love that you compared them side by side! Makes it so much easy to know what you are really getting from each brand!
I bought some Thieves oil from somewhere, but I don’t remember where. It’s been a long time ago so I don’t remember the brand, but I remember that I really loved it!
I have only bought single essential oils, never blends, but this is super helpful. There’s so many ways to use them I have wanted to purchase more. I have to admit, the price tag for all of them is a little steep for my liking, but the way you have explained them helps make that make sense, too. Great review.
Wow! The CPTG thing is definitely shady. I will definitely avoid doTerra. I’ve never tried this blend before, but it sounds really nice and relaxing.
Wow, that is pretty expensive but I’m guessing it lasts awhile.
They do last quite a while depending on how much you use them. When I diffuse oils it literally only takes one drop since they are so strong.
I wanted to suggest Heritage Plague Defense. It has the exact same blend for less than $20.
I love Heritage’s oils!
I’ll have to look into that brand. Thanks for the suggestion!
Heritage has great oils!
The company had to make a name change. It is called Hopewell’s now. I completely trust their oils. But not any of the big companies. I’m trying to figure out why Theoves smells so much sweeter than hopewell’s plague defense?
Heritage Essential Oils has changed their name to Hope Well Oils and yes I love their quality and have several of their blends.
Thank you for the review. It was very informative!
I am curious about the oil world. A friend of mine I a huge into it but I just don’t now yet. I am thinking it might be time you had some great things to say about it:)
I don’t use oils as much as some of my friends but honestly just pick them up from whole foods or amazon…
Love essential oils. But, have not tried thieves. Might have to go check it out this weekend.
I have been looking into essential oils a lot lately and this article has been very helpful! Thank you, I may have to give these a try!
I love how you keep it real! Thanks for the “real” reviews!!
I love that you did the comparison. And I love a cinnamon and clove smell (my favorite scent combo, hands down).
I really like essential oils for their healing properties, and orange and clove scents are some of my favorite…lavender too, but I don’t want to get sleepy so I don’t use that one as much. I’ve never heard of this brand of oils, so thanks for sharing.
Oh wooooow…I cannot believe some people have said that you can use the essential oils internally…*makes me shiver*
Some essential oils are save to use internally, but certainly not all.
Thank You For All The Helpful Info On The Differents Oils I Will Have To Try Some!!
I love the name of those oils and if they do work all the better. I love lavender and Patchouli oils. Will look at this one.
Eliz
I do love lavender. We diffuse it at bedtime. I haven’t been much of a fan of patchouli. Maybe it’s just the brand I got that I don’t like.
I make my own thieves blend. No reason to buy one already blended when I have all of the ingredients. In fact I had blended them for a hand sanitizer recipe before I even knew of the thieves blend. I appreciate this information as I was just hearing about young living. I’ll stick with my local natural stores for my oils.
I like buying local when I can too. Unfortunately I haven’t seen very many stores locally that sell a good variety of oils. : (
Mind sharing your recipe please?
I hadn’t even heard of this other essential oils company. I’ll have to look into them. We used to buy Young Living, but have switched to Plant Therapy.
I’ll have to look into plant therapy. I’ve never heard of it.
It’s interesting that the same product can be SO different depending on brand. Thanks for the info!
It’s interesting that the prices can vary so much, and that one product maker can make such outlandish claims about the certification of the oil. That really is false advertising. It’s hard to know what is believable these days. Thanks for the information.
This might help you understand dōTERRA’s CPTG labeling. https://essential-essentials.com/faq/cptg-mean/
Thank you for sharing! Funny how we assume things before really understand just what it truly means! Kind of sad that people make statements that are false and hurts the companies reputation! Maybe if they had read this first their insight might be more accurate!
For me, the jury’s still out for Eden’s Garden, anyway as to their customer. Overzealous about their low prices, I ordered a bunch of stuff from them over a week ago and still haven’t gotten a shipping confirmation. They haven’t returned my phone calls and emails, and I’m yea-close to contacting my credit card to dispute.
oops, I meant, “as to their customer service.”
I hope you get everything worked out with disputing the charges. I’ve only order from Eden’s Garden once and never had problems. But hearing your story makes me want to steer clear of them in the future.
I have ordered from Edens garden a few times. They do take about a week to ship…
I am now so used to amazon prime and practically immediate shipments so yes, it seems to take forever. Patience. 🙂
The SSN has to do with the selling portion. If you ever sell, a SSN has to be given. They just assume you will want to in the future.
I use Edens Gardens, and I wondered about the thinness of them. I often wondered if they were diluted, as they seem weaker in use. I don’t feel like they are as effective as others claim their (YL or DoT) oils seem to be. I feel the synergies (blends) through Edens need to be used as is, not diluted as the bottles states, to be effective. Thanks for the side by side review
I’ve read mixed reviews about the thinness of Eden’s Garden. I do feel like I have to use more drops in my diffuser than I do my Young Living brand oils.
Some of the DT & YL blends may be thicker if they have a carrier oil in them. It can also depend on if the crop of flowers/plants had enough rain by harvest time and the distillation process is an art and science at the same time. I don’t think neither one is organic so seek out one that is if that’s what you want. Butterfly Express to me is one of the best essential oil brands, Somatherapy is really good too.
I looked into the DoTerra, the certified pure therapeutic grade means that they get all of their oils tested for purity by a third party scientist. They also grow and harvest their plants in the plant’s native habitat, thereby assuring the best quality produced and it supports the villages that grow and harvest the plants for doTerra. So even though there isn’t a board governing what CPTG, doTerra seems to ensure the quality of their oils is nothing less than 100% pure. As for the sign up process, I asked and they don’t take your Sin, they use your birthday instead. And you can buy a kit but there are no obligations to do monthly purchases. Sounds like an ok company to me! I use onGuard now after researching and absolutely love it!
Have you used any EO from Mountain Rose Herbs?
I haven’t personally used them. I did have a friend who tried them because she had read really good reviews about them. I smelled her Mountain Rose oils and they had a sort of chemical smell to them, almost like rubbing alcohol. I’m not sure if she got a bad batch. She was really disappointed and had to send several back.
Does the 4 thieves work as well as thieves from YL? Does it keep you from getting sick I have YL thieves and you are right it is pricey. Does the 4 thieves work as well as the yl one?
I have used both YL Thieves Blend and Edens Garden Four Thieves Blend on my 7 year old daughter for illnesses. There was not a huge difference in the results but EGs seemed to work better. My sniff test proved that Edens Garden was more potent. This blogger says that EGs blend has more eucalyptus and is much thinner than YL, but I totally disagree. The EG blend was a powerful scent of cinnamon and cloves. A beautiful blend if you ask me! And I just tried both of them on my finger and can’t tell a difference in the consistency of the oil. I can’t say that either of them will “keep you from getting sick”. I used EGs Four Thieves blend and it worked great to help my 7 yr old get over a double ear infection. We did have to go to the doctor for this one, because I did not know what was wrong with her. So, yes, she was on antibiotics but I believe the thieves under her ears helped for a quick recovery. I think that YL and EG have great quality oils but I have opted for Edens Garden mostly because of the affordable prices and the shipping cost is not bad at all! Happy oiling!
Eden’s Garden oils are ALWAYS shipped FREE in the US. Think of the savings. Have used them for 2 yrs now, love them!
After some research and reading a seven part review of oils on http://www.wholenewmom.com, I decided to buy my oils from Native American Nutritionals, which is currently merging with Rocky Mountain Oils. I am very happy with the quality and effectiveness of these oils. The prices are more reasonable, too, since it’s a direct buy company with no distributors, which ups the prices. Hope this helps others in a search for a reputable oil company. Oh, I did realize how inferior the cheap NOW oil brand is compared to NAN’s oils.
I just discovered Edens Garden oils and found your blog from a google search for reviews of their products. We’ve been using Butterfly Express oils primarily and while I’m really happy with them I like Edens Garden prices better. After a few months of use, how are you liking them?
I too am curious how you like the Eden’s garden oils.
I have been using Young Living for almost a year now and I have had amazing results with these oils. I have come to trust their purity as I have taken many of them internally and had wonderful results. My cholesterol dropped 50 pts, my triglycerides, LDL and HDL levels are in the normal ranges now after 8-10 years of being a problem. I have recurring diverticulitis which is an infection in the bowel and I cured the last infection without having to go to the hospital & having to get IVs, by using thieves, oregano and frankincense in a capsule 4 times a daywhich is an infection in the bowel
Georgette, what oils did you use to get your cholesterol to drop?
Great post! I’ve just received my very first e.o.’s last week. I decided to go with Edens Garden bc of price. I ASSUMED all oils were thin bc I had no comparisons, so thank you! I wouldn’t mind the thinness so much if the jars had a dropper top, but I feel like I’m wasting. Is there a list somewhere of oils that are “safe to consume”?
All oils are not created equal, and I have found that typically, you get what you pay for. I would not consume anything from Eden’s Garden. I believe they state not for consumption.
Have you tried the “bellamira” oils from “abunndantlifeessentials.com” I use their oil blends which are like young living blends but not as pricey?
I’ve used Eden’s Garden, NOW and DoTerra oils. Compared to Eden’s Garden & DoTerra, I can tell that NOW oils are different. They have a chemical smell to some of them. Also, Eden’s Garden claims they do 3rd party testing on their products just like DoTerra. So far I’ve been happy with both Eden’s Garden & DoTerra’s oils; however, I like the fact that Eden’s Garden offers oils at more affordable prices. I’ve only ordered Eden’s Garden from Amazon, but plan to order directly from Eden’s Garden next order. I’ve heard their shipping is a bit slow, but I’m okay with that because the cost of the oils are more affordable. I do think the whole CTPG with DoTerra is a red flag for me considering there’s not a standard of measurement. I also read online somewhere that there are only a few oil companies in the world that own their own distilleries. Therefore, all these other companies are simiple “re-bottlers” buying their oils from the distillary owned by someone else and putting their own labels on the bottle. So far, I’ve not been able to find out what company actually owns a distillery.
I do not believe ownership is important. I respect the companies that go into the poverty stricken areas and train then in all the areas from planting to care to harvesting. They oversee them and give them a livelihood instead of buying it and leaving them with nothing. Some companies have made a huge difference in communities all over the world!
CPTG is nothing but a buzz word /acronym! Although, doTerra thought they needed to register it! No offense, but like I say, the EO industry is brutal.
Sharing Jade Shutes, (very qualified source) herbalist, to shed some much needed light on “The Quality of Essential Oils”….and much more, here.
http://www.naha.org/assets/uploads/The_Quality_of_Essential_Oils_Journal.pdf
Take from it what you need; also, she has a great website
Hi. Thanks for your reviews of the different oils. I use Eden’s Garden. I was wondering if you had had time to review them? I believe I read in your post that you were going to, and I am curious to know your thoughts on EG and which oils you ordered. My friend uses YL and we got together last night to compare oils. It was fun, but we didn’t come to any major conclusions. Thanks for your time.
Has anyone tried Heritage Essential Oils? How do you think they compare?
I love Plant Therapy. A fraction of the cost because they’re not paying people to sell for them, and the quality is amazing. Their customer service rocks too!
doterra’s On Guard oil DOES NOT smell like Young Living’s Theives. Theives has a stronger lemon & rosemary aroma. On Guard is much more spicy like cinnamon and clove.
Also, not all of doTerra’s founders are from Young Living. 3 of the 7 are and they have good reasons. What I find interesting is that the Chief Medical Advisor left and felt inspired to start a new.
It’s ok for a company to create a standard when no standard exist. It’s a standard that they can hold up to. If you read with doTerra’s standard is and research if they hold their standard, you will find that they do and that it is a standard that no one else has. I imagine parts of their standard are held by other companies, but not all. I think it’s hard to understand the value of standard and third party testing if you don’t work in such industries where is has value. My husband is the CEO for a Hemp/CDB oil company and I get to see why standards and testing are so critical in an industry that is not regulated. It’s a way of offering transperancy to consumers and practitioners.
I don’t know about Young Living or Edens Oils but if you choose not to by doTerra that is your choice but don’t criticize price or business model if you really don’t know. doTerra has a beautiful and bountiful global impact. They allow folks to provide for their families both here in America and across the planet. Their co-impact sourcing farmer relationship is one of the best business models for farmers in developing countries. If you purchase these oils from a friend, you can be proud that you support them and that you may have improved a farmers life.
I agree that On-guard and Thieves do not smell the same. Personally Thieves smells much better to us.
Funny that she’s replied to almost everything, except this post. Ha!
Georgette.
Is the Cholesterol oil recipe the same as for diverticulitis?
Jenn.
Looking for good Hemp/CBD oil
Co.!
Cb
I was a YL dist back in the early 2000’s. Like you, live their oils but not their business .odwl or prices. Also like you, i started researching other companies several years ago. I started buying Native American Nutritionals several years ago and have been very very pleased. I love their oils but i really love the fact that they get their oils from the country that the plants are native too. I find this to be much purer and better quality oils and their pricing is great. You might want to check them out.
Good News! YL is dropping their SS# requirement starting in March 2017. This should make new members much more comfortable when signing up. You still need to make a $100 PV purchase to make commission but now you get a free Oil when spending $100 through their Essential Rewards Program. Totally worth it!
Have you tried or compared meleluca oils to young living I use both just curious I’m new to oil what in the meleluca oils would compare to thrives
You should also check out Jade Bloom. I love their EO’s. With mine and my oldest ds asthma and allergies I have always used DoT breathe blend. I tried Jade Blooms blend and it is great and saves me a ton
Do you realise that part of Doterra’s CPTG process involves having their oils tested by 2 Third party sources? So CPTG is just a standard by which their oils are tested. They test in-house AND have their results backed up by testing outside of Doterra. Any other company is invited to have their oils go through the same testing process but none have taken up the offer yet.
Pingback: Doterra cheap monthly deals 2017 - Norwex Healthy Cleaning
I do most of my business with Barefüt. Their oils are wonder, just as great as from companies you previously mentioned, but with so much better prices and don’t have to join anything to get different prices than everyone else. I have never had any issues with this company and they always have some great sales, specials and now the have free sample oils only for their reasonable cost of s/h. I am a member(customer) of doTerra and I only use them if I’m in dire need for an oil and Barefüt doesn’t carry it or I can’t find the recipe online to make my own blend!!
Pingback: Thieves Oil That Won't Break the Bank - Mom Elite
Pingback: Essential Oils Holiday Gift Guide - Mom Elite
Great review. Last year a friend of mine gifted me with several oils and we love it. Now we are looking for more to replenish our stocks and to try other blends too.
Wow, I love oils …I Will surely check this out in the market. Thank you for this review.
In stressful times like this, I guess these essential oils come very useful and many people appreciate this.
I realize this was posted originally a good while ago.
But have you guys kept up with the use of the related products? It’s been enough time to see if it was a “fad” or something truly good to keep in your life.
What do you think?