I have had several people on Etsy ask if I have tried doTERRA's line of essential oils, and one person even sent me samples. And each time I say "no, this company is a pyramid scheme," they don't seem to believe I could not love this company. I have been working with natural plant oils for years - both that are distilled specifically for perfumery and for aromatherapy. The doTERRA oils that I tried (basil, lavender, frankincense) were lifeless and flat compared to the many reputable distributers that I have purchased from in the past.
The claims they make are not even possible, and the "Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade®" claim is in itself very misleading. The reason there is an ® at the end of that phrase is because there is no such thing as a certification for pure therapeutic grade. It is possible to have oils tested in a lab to see if they are really distilled from plants, but any reputable seller would have the gas chromatography analysis available to customers.
They bank on the fact that most consumers have no idea that ® means "registered trademark," which means they literally MADE UP the term "certified pure therapeutic grade®" and are using their trademarked phrase in a way to mislead consumers. It also reserves the phrase to be something only THEY are legally allowed to use. If no other essential oil supplier is allowed to use this phrase, even if their oils are 100% purely distilled from organic plants from a biodynamic farm under stringent conditions with lab testing to prove it, they still will not be allowed to say they are also "CPTG" because A. There is no way to actually get this certification for anyone else B. It is a trademarked phrase owned by a multi-level marketing company.
Many distilleries have organic certification, and doTERRA does not seem to carry any certified organic oils, a certification that actually exists in the industry. This makes me doubt further that they actually have the best sources for their essential oils.
The part that really seems crazy to me is the prices of their (and Young Living's) oils. The prices are higher than any wholesale or retail distributor I have seen! Well something has to pay for that huge marketing team and (over)packaging. People are used to this in pretty much every other business, but the essential oils trade did not have these kind of corporate marketing teams before doTERRA and YoungLiving (which also sucks). I guess I am just used to the mom&pop distributers.
