Essential oils in cosmetic formulas: is there a difference?

What are the types of essential oils?

Essential oils may be certified organic, natural, blended natural or nature identical. Here is an overview of how they differ, how natural they really are, and what you need to be aware of.

Certified organic: this means the essential oil has been grown without the use of pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals; and undergo all natural and accepted processing steps. Because they are certified organic, these types of oils, as with all certified organic ingredients, are susceptible to climate and crop issues, which means their yield can fluctuate dramatically depending on the weather, and their quality may also be affected.

As a result, their price can also be heavily impacted, which can mean volatility of price in a cosmetic formula as well. If you are creating certified organic formulas, then you must use the certified organic version of an essential oil, but just be prepared for differences in aromatic quality and be able to cushion the blow of any significant price rises where supply diminishes. 

Natural: natural essential oils may be grown with the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or other chemicals, but still undergo natural and traditional extraction techniques. A natural essential oil is similar to a certified organic essential oil, except for the use of agricultural chemicals to help ensure consistent growth and yields.

This means you get less quality variation and more predictable crops, and therefore while prices can vary a little from season to season, they are far less likely to be impacted the way an organic essential oil may be, although there still can be some fluctuations of price if there is an increased demand for a certain type of oil or significant weather events impact growth.

Blended natural: this type of essential oil is the most resistant to price and quality fluctuations, and is still an all-natural ingredient. If you’ve been buying economically priced, all natural essential oils, chances are you have been purchasing blended natural materials without even being aware of it.

A blended natural essential oil is where ‘fractions’ of essential oils may be blended to create an oil’s profile, albeit the ‘fractions’ (isolates) come from other oils. For example, orange oil (Citrus aurantium dulcis peel oil) is characterized by the following components:

However, a poor season or crop may result in orange oil almost tripling in price, so to provide a more economical version, the components of orange oil may come from other sources, and then be ‘put together’ to provide the same final aroma. For example:

• the orange terpenes, acetaldehydes (octanol) and decanal may be obtained from other citrus oils;
• the alpha pinene, beta pinene and myrcene may be obtained from pine oil; and
• the linalool from howood oil.

In this case, the finished product would smell almost exactly the same as truly natural orange oil – especially as part of a blend in a cosmetic formula – but by using fractions from more commonly available and cheaper sources, the end product can be more price controlled.

Nature identical: this type of essential oil is not all natural, but still smells the same as an all-natural essential oil. To create a nature identical essential oil, suppliers will use ‘fractions’ of essential oils from natural sources as well as petrochemical sources, or they may use fractions entirely from petrochemical sources.

The finished product is chemically and aromatically indistinguishable to the natural source (to the untrained nose) albeit no longer completely natural. It is usually much cheaper to produce this way and can therefore be price controlled, but is not suitable to use in products claiming to be ‘all natural’. For example, lavender oil (Lavandula officinalis flower oil) is characterized by the following components:

However, it can be produced as a nature identical lavender oil, very economically, using:

• natural sources: limonene (from peppermint); cineole (from eucalyptus), 3-octanone (from peppermint); camphor oil (from pine); linalool (from howood); linalyl acetate (from petitgrain); terpinene 4-ol (from tea tree); alpha terpineol (from turpentine)
• petrochemical sources (but identical in structure to that found in nature): limonene, cineole, 3-octanone, camphor powder, linalool, linalyl acetate, terpinene 4-ol, alpha terpineol

Composition information courtesy of Aromatic Ingredients Pty Ltd.

Why are there so many types of essential oils?

The shortest, and most common answer, is price and availability:

• certified organic versions of an essential oil are usually the most expensive – and can be 2-3 times (or more) than the non-organic natural version.
• natural essential oils are the next most expensive version – both price and quality can alter significantly over different seasons.
• blended natural are usually the most economical, price stable and aromatically consistent all-natural choice – adding isolates from other essential oils can help counter any seasonal variations both in smell and price control in these materials.
• nature identical are usually the cheapest and not natural.

If you want:

• a truly natural material/blend,
• aroma consistency over multiple seasons, and
• price consistency,

then blended natural is the best choice.

If the formula is to be promoted as containing ‘all natural essential oils’ then you should only be using the whole, natural essential oil (not a blended natural material). Price and aroma can fluctuate depending on seasonal growth – so your product may cost, and smell, significantly different each batch.

If the formula is to be certified organic, then only certified organic versions can be used where they are available.

So there you have it, a guide to how essential oils differ and what you should look for when next deciding on a source and supplier of essential oils. Remember to ask for any paperwork to confirm the level of quality or category you are purchasing and check each batch carefully – the more natural (or organic), the greater variation in price, aroma and availability you may experience. That paperwork is also important when making claims about your product and how natural it truly is – keep your claims honest by choosing the terms you use wisely, and hold the evidence to support your statements.

Finally, make sure you are prepared for any price or supply issues if choosing all natural or organic, and always keep your target market, and what they want from your product, in mind. 

Happy formulating!