Hopewell Essential Oils Review

Purity

You have probably noticed that almost all essential oil brands will have their oils labelled “100% natural” or “100% pure.” What does this mean, and why is purity important? For starters, the purity of an oil is important because it is indicative of its high quality. In order for an essential oil to have a beautiful, natural smelling aroma and contain the active constituents, it needs to pure. The problem is that the term “purity” is used loosely in the industry. You can legally call a product “pure” or “natural,” even if it contains synthetics or other contaminants. Of course, this is ethically questionable because consumers expect the labels of products to be true to what they reasonably suggest. So how can you tell genuine purity from marketing tactics? The best way is to look at sourcing, ingredients, extraction methods and tests. 

Extraction Method

The extraction method is one of the most important steps to producing a high quality, truy pure oil. The reason is that essential oils can be difficult to extract from a botanical, and cheap oils might not contain any of the actual active constituents at all due to poor extraction methods and additives. The best extraction methods for the purest oils are steam distillation and cold press. Steam distillation is usually used for leaves, frutis, flowers, etc, whereas cold press is often used for citruses. Solvent extraction can also produce very pure oils, but is usually only used for very rare oils like jasmine because of the use of solvents. Even though it is very unlikely that any of these solvents will survive the distillation process and contaminate the oil, companies still tend to use steam distillation and cold press and their primary methods. If you can’t find information on extraction methods or read about different procedures, your oil is probably not as pure as you think. But Hopewell uses the best extraction methods, and advertises which method was used for each essential oil. They also give information about the type of botanical it was extracted from, which allows you to infer if the extraction method was best for that botanical. Furthermore, the source botanical has a huge impact on the overall quality as well. Let’s take a look at that. 

Quality Control

Where a botanical was sourced and the part of a botanical used is also a very important part of making pure essential oils. The best quality oils come from botanicals grown in their native land on farms that use the highest farming standards. In terms of purity, this means sustainable, pesticide and biocide-free farmland. Hopewell works with farms that hold these standards, and don’t take shortcuts such early harvesting. Some companies harvest botanicals before they are ready to meet demand, but this will result in lower quality oils. Hopewell identifies the botanicals by their latin names and takes every measure to ensure they were grown and harvested in ideal conditions. 

Testing

While sourcing and extraction are the most important steps in producing high quality essential oils, testing is the only way to ensure that the product is truly pure. There is a huge variety of tests that can look at an oil and determine its origin and purity. The industry standard is GC/MS testing, and Hopewell does this and countless other tests to verify the purity of their oils. Here are some of the tests they conduct.

EOBBD

This stands for Essential Oils Botanically and Biochemically Defined. What this means is that Hopewell conducts tests on the chemical level to verify that the source botanical is as advertised. For example, ylang ylang oil will be verified as being sourced from ylang ylang plants, and from the correct part: the flower (which contains the essential oil) rather than the roots for example.

FTIR

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy is used on heavier oils to assess and verify their chemical constituents and determine if any adulterants are present. 

GCMS

The industry standard test that assess all essential oils for their chemical purity. It looks at the chemical components of the oil and can tell if there are any synthetics or other undesirable chemical components that affect how pure the oil is. 

ISO/AFNOR

These are standard-setting tests that, rather than looking at the purity of an oil, provide the chemical makeup of what a certain essential oil should be composed of. Other purity tests will compare their results to this chemical makeup, and if they differ, it is know that the essential oil is impure. 

Grading and Certifications

Hopewell open about what different certifications mean, which is good for consumer awareness and demonstrates a priority on education. The topic of grading and certification is complex, because it is widely misunderstood. Many consumers believe that the more certifications a product has, the better it must be. In reality, this is not always the case. Getting certified (organic, Non-GMO, etc) can be a very costly, complicated and lengthy process. These grading systems can be used as useful and informative, but they do not necessarily speak to quality of the product, and should not be taken as the be-all-end-all of how a product should be judged.

Organic

One reason it is difficult to find USDA certified organic essential oils is that the standards for meeting this requirement are often nearly impossible. Because requirements are different state to state, companies that source from a wide range of areas will have an especially difficult time qualifying as USDA organic, even if their products are sourced from organic farms. So even though they are not USDA certified, Hopewell sources from farms that grow their botanicals without pesticides, fungicides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.

Variety 

Variety is a great thing to see in a company, especially if you’re a fan of their product. Some people like to mix it up, but others like to find a brand they like and stick to it. Hopewell offers a wide range of essential oils and essential oil based products. They have a huge selection of singles, blends and kits. The kits are awesome because not only are they a competitive price, they also come in great portable and reusable bags. They do not have an organic certified line, but as mentioned, all of their oils are organically sourced.

Hopewell also offers other oil-based products like hair and skin care, as well accessories such as diffusers. One thing we love about their product line up is that you can buy empty essential oil bottles and all the necessary tools to make your own blends! This makes Hopewell a great one stop shop. 

Labelling

Until fairly recently, Hopewell went by the name of Heritage Essential Oils. As they expanded into the online market, they were required to change their name for trademarking purposes. Because of this, the company is still in the process of remaking the labels for their products. You’ll probably notice this is your browse their products online. If you order their products online, once you receive the oils you’ll notice their labels contain the standard information about dilution rates, ingredients, and cautions for each oil. But Hopewell does provide a wealth of information, including extensive info on the botanicals and recommended uses. Hopewell is clearly a company that strives to provide their customers with as much information on their products as they can. 

Value

In a general sense, essential oils are one of those products where you get what you pay for. Even if an oil is labelled as “100% pure,” if it costs pennies compared larger brands then there is good chance it mostly composed of synthetics and adulterants and will be an overall low quality oil. Premium oils are expensive to manufacture, and therefore will almost always be higher in price. It is true that even some premium essential oils are overpriced, so it’s up to you to decide what your quality standards are and look for competitive prices. Hopewell are definitely priced as a premium brand, but their prices are not so high that you’re being gouged unfairly. One of the huge upsides to Hopewell is that they secretly offer some of the cheapest organic essential oils are the market. Many companies hike up prices once they get their organic certification, but getting and maintaining that label is pricey. Hopewell’s products are all organically  sourced, but because they haven’t been certified, they don’t jack up the price. Overall, Hopewell is a high quality essential oil at great price. 

Final Verdict: Are Hopewell Essential Oils a Good Buy?

Hopewell oils may be one of the smaller companies in the essential oil industry, but they're still a major player and a company worth considering. Their quality is what sets them apart from other companies, performing much more extensive in-house testing to ensure a quality final product. As well, their USDA Certified Organic Oils are some of the most affordable you can get (that are organic) so we definitely recommend Hopewell as a brand to support. 

More of the Best Brands

We love Hopewell's organic offerings, but we understand that not everyone will like the same things. That's why we put together this comprehensive guide of the best essential oil brands to review, look through, and make an informed decision. Happy reading!