Brand Review: Aura Cacia Essential Oils

You’ve probably landed on this article because you’re searching for the best essential oil brand. Before you make a purchase, you like to conduct a brand review and do a little research to make sure that what you’re buying, is worth your dollar– and that it will help you reach your goals. 

From blog posts to big companies, everyone has an opinion about where to buy essential oils. The essential oil market is no doubt overcrowded and with it also being unregulated, the phrase “best essential oil company” is very  subjective. So, I’m glad you landed here. 

You can find essential oils just about everywhere these days: grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, and online. Which is great! This is a sign that the use of natural remedies for treatment of common issues like digestion, anxiety, low energy, and poor sleep is on the rise! 

Most likely, you’ve landed on this article because you want to know more about Aura Cacia. Is this company really worth all the hype, am I getting good quality essential oils, and will these help me reach my goals? All valid questions. And in this article, I’m going to answer every single one. But let’s start with the most important: Will Aura Cacia essential oils help me reach my goals. Well, this all depends. What are your goals? Are you interested in whipping up some DIY all-natural cleaning recipes? Or do you want serious stress relief and a mental boost? 

If all you’re looking to do is freshen up your house without all the toxins, then opting for a cheap not so pure brand is not the worst idea. But if you want therapeutic benefits, a pure brand that passed all the tests is what you need. 

In this article, I’m going to dive deep into Aura Cacia essential oils and review and rate them based on a scale of A+-F based on price, selection, and quality. To check out our rating scale go here. By the end of this brand review, you’ll know whether Aura Cacia essential oils are the perfect choice for you. 

The Basics: Who is Aura Cacia Essential Oils

Aura Cacia essential oils- there is no way that you haven’t seen them. From Target and Whole Foods to Amazon and Walmart online- they are just about everywhere. Unlike most modern day essential oil companies on the market, Aura Cacia has a unique business structure: a co-op. A co-op means that there are multiple businesses and owners that decide the brand direction, together. It’s kind of a cool idea too because rather than a single-ownership structure, there are multiple owners who offer insight and values to the company. Co-ops are always accountable for their members- meaning they all want them to be jointly advocating for the right thing. 

More specifically, Aura Cacia is under the main umbrella company Frontier Co-op meaning that it is member owned! Members are businesses and stores that buy and sell Aura Cacia products. And Aura Cacia is wildly successful. And I like that because their main brand values and mission is to be responsible to people and planet. They even monitor the carbon emissions related to their business and use mainly solar energy or diesel and natural gas. They have also implemented green policies and have waste and recycling management at all four of their facilities. 

If this isn’t already making you feel good about purchasing from them, then here’s one more thing: for each purchase of an Aura Cacia product you support the brand’s Positive Change Project which supports organizations that help women transform their lives. 

Without a doubt, the Aura Cacia essential oils are one of the most visibly recognizable essential oil companies – these products have been in health food stores for years (you’ve probably seen their Simply Organic brand of seasonings and sauces as well). This visibility means the Aura Cacia oils are easy to find and buy, but how do they fare in terms of price, selection, and quality? Let’s look a little further. 

Price

The Aura Cacia essential oils have two very different price points depending upon whether you go conventional or organic. The regular Aura Cacia oils are average price – somewhere right in the middle of other brands. Their organic line, however, is definitely more expensive, falling in a more “premium” or “higher price” category.

Lavender $13.15 for 15 mL ($31.36 organic 15 mL)*

Frankincense $29.82 for 15 mL ($59.98 organic 15 mL)

Peppermint $8.99 for 15 mL ($20.90 organic 15mL)

*Aura Cacia sells their organic oils in 7.4 mL bottles, so I doubled those prices to give you the 15 mL price for comparison. Just keep in mind you will actually be paying half the price and receive half the size.

Selection

The Aura Cacia essential oils selection is broad with a large variety of single oils, including some of the harder to find specialty oils. Their certified organic selection is pretty decent as well – you can get oils like clary sage or cypress as well as the common lemon or tea tree types. Then you have a nice range of blends. Aura Cacia offers an energy balancing line, as well as hair, body, face, and home care blends. You also have your pretty common blends like relaxation and purify.

Quality

Aura Cacia seems to be good at establishing relationships with their growers. They personally meet with the growers of their essential oil supply chain so that they can make clear their level of quality control desired. 

Aura Cacia discusses some specific tests they use for their oils – like the GC-MS and specific gravity tests. These are really important foundational tests that need to be in each oil brand, and it’s nice to see them discussed on their quality page. There’s not a lot of consistency in posting about the extraction method, but they do offer country of origin information. While their organic line is promising, their prices are high enough that I’d expect a little more quality info.

The potential problem: Consumer Advocates sent out 3 oils to be tested for adulteration. Results were in, and the lab detected synthetic markers in their lavender oil. Consumers Advocates also made room to note that there are distillers out there that have ways to engineer chemical compounds so similar to natural biological ones, that it is almost impossible to detect adulteration. I’m still on the swing about this one. 

Aura Cacia Essential Oils Rating 

Something that I always look for in essential oil companies is that they offer further education of the essential oils. Aura Cacia sells essential oil kits that come with training literature and pamphlets. This is especially handy for beginners so that you can learn how to use the oils you just purchased. 

Aura Cacia falls at a B on our rating scale. A B means that it’s good value and decent quality. They may not offer some of the perks and other nuances of higher rated companies.

Here’s the bottom line: Some top essential oils brands have much clearer quality information. Personally, I do expect to see more quality information but I’d say Aura Cacia does a good job setting ethical and sustainable standards which is so important in today’s world!  And if you care about ethical and sustainable practices, Aura Cacia may be the choice for you. I would be weary of the adulteration finds though. 

Have you ever tried Aura Cacia essential oils? If you have, what was your experience? I think Aura Cacia could work well for cleaning and diffusing but I’m not sure I’m completely sold on therapeutic benefits. Drop a comment below and tell me your thoughts!