Choosing the right essential oil company for yourself is a deeply personal choice. Many essential oil companies in the aromatherapy market are vying for your attention. But with the aromatherapy industry becoming increasingly diluted, which essential oil company is best? In today’s blog, we’ll highlight the differences between Young Living and Edens Garden. Read on to learn more. 

Edens Garden vs Young Living: Everything You Need To Know

For some, the choice between these two companies may come down to the brand name. For others, it includes the quality of the oils, the transparency of the company, and the company size.

The primary difference between the essential oil brands Edens Garden and Young Living is their business models. With Edens Garden, it's simple, caring deeply for the customers' well-being, Edens Garden prefers to sell its high-quality oils, free of synthetic chemicals, directly to consumers without a middleman. They do not require membership for purchases and offer products with transparency in product testing and quality control.

Purchasing Young Living products is more complicated due to its Multi-Level Marketing business model (MLM). Let's dig a bit deeper into this top-heavy business model.

What is an MLM?

An MLM business model uses its members to sell products in the shape of a pyramid.[2] For Young Living, their sales are made by essential oils and offshoots of products related to essential oils. Those at the top of this pyramid make the most money via commissions from all the members under their lead. 

To purchase a bottle of Young Living essential oil, first, you sign up as a new member[1] under a current member, known as a “preferred customer.” Otherwise, you must pay a marked-up retail price for their product. As a member, you can only purchase Young Living products from current members who make a commission on your purchases. If you wish to sell oils, you become a brand partner. 

As a brand partner, you move up a notch on the pyramid. You are eligible to purchase Young Living products at wholesale pricing (24% below retail.) At this level, you must purchase $50 in products per year, plus a Business Essentials kit to maintain this membership. To increase your commission base, you must recruit people under you to buy and sell Young Living products. 

The major snag in this business model is the high price tag of their products. Each of their product's prices is padded to help pay for commissions. Therefore, when you purchase essential oils from Young Living, the increased cost of their products is not because their oils are better, but because they have to cushion the prices to pay the commissions. 

How Do Young Living and Edens Garden Compare?

Seeing a need for high-quality, accessible essential oils, Grace Martin began Edens Garden in 2009. She states,

“Providing affordable access to wholesome, safe, and toxin-free aromatherapy options is my way of sharing my passion for nature with others. With humble gratitude, I am so proud of the values and integrity that Edens Garden holds. We don't compromise quality. We offer the best oils at accessible prices. We are transparent about our sourcing and process. We guide with education. We never take the shortcut.”

Along with differences in business structure, here are some additional areas Edens Garden and Young Living compare. 

1. Transparency & Product Quality

Edens Garden offers pure, additive-free, unadulterated essential oils to give peace of mind in knowing not only where the product is sourced but also the transparency of testing such as GC/MS through independent labs. 

Edens Garden also sets benchmark standards that respect the plant and essential oil sourcing. Each farm and distillery they partner with must follow Edens Garden’s code of ethics and meet standards for quality and sustainability. And while their mission in sourcing is to provide their customers with the highest quality essential oils available, it’s also to create two-way, synergistic relationships with the farms and distilleries they partner with.

Accessibility to GC/MS testing is imperative to understanding the percentage of therapeutic grade constituents that an essential oil contains when blending essential oils into healing products. This offers assurance of the oil’s quality and purity and goes beyond taking a company at its word.

Young Living does not offer their GC/MS reports to the end user. 

2. Production 

Each and every one of Edens Garden's essential oil products is hand-poured by their team as opposed to machine pouring which helps to maintain the purity specification. Machine pouring, used by many essential oil companies, always comes with the potential for cross-contamination. 

We are proud to say that hand pouring means zero cross-contamination from one product to the next. Furthermore, pouring equipment and beakers are continuously cleaned and maintained to ensure proper sanitation and Edens Garden employees always wear personal protective gear when working.  

Young Living’s products are bottled and produced by machine.

3. Affordable & Comparable Products

Without the cost of brick-and-mortar stores, Edens Garden essential oil products are sold at wholesale pricing to everyone. They also offer sales throughout the year, often up to 25% off sitewide. Additionally, they offer an Aroma Notes rewards program that allows anyone to accumulate discounts on future orders. Edens Garden also carries bulk sizes of their most popular products with a built-in discount attached. 

At the time of this writing, Young Living’s 15 ml Lavender oil retails for nearly double the cost of Edens Garden’s 30 ml Lavender Bulgarian essential oil. 

Edens Garden carries a number of products that compare to Young Living essential oil blends and formulas. Here are a few comparable blends.

4. Women-Owned & Operated Business

Size matters. Since 2009, Edens Garden has been a close-knit, family-owned, and women-operated team with a direct-to-consumer business model. Edens Garden strives to put people over profit and keep investors and large growth operators out of the picture. Keeping the business small benefits quality, sustainability, and dedication to the customer. 

On top of all this, Edens Garden adheres to its Seeds Of Goodness program which donates a percentage of profits to organizations dedicated to making the world a healthier, happier place.

As of 2022, Young Living has approximately 3000 employees, not including independent distributors. Young Living was said to have made $2.2 billion in 2020.[4]

SOURCES:

1. How to become YL member. https://www.youngliving.com/en_hk/customer-service/how-to-become-a-yl-member
2. What Is an MLM? How Multilevel Marketing Works. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/multi-level-marketing.asp
3. Young Living Named To Top 10 of Direct Selling News Global 100 List. https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/company/media/announcements/young-living-named-to-top-10-of-direct-selling-news-global-100-list