Essential Depot?

[bobbie.johnson]

What are your thought about quality of EOs and Oils? They seem to have good prices on everything including lye but shipping about made me have a heart attack. I usually use WSP where shipping was included in price so I got scared a bit. Just looking for general thoughts on this supplier.
Thanks Bobbie

Moved from CP

 

[newbie]

I've used them for lye mainly and they are fast, efficient and their prices are good. I buy on sale though. I did get some FO's which were good but not all the scents were my things- same as any other time I buy new scents. I've never gotten oils because there is an oil supplier much closer to me so shipping is cheaper there.

 

[mel z]

Fast shipping. Oils good, lye good, EO's are just okay but at a great price considering, just my opinion. Some like them, some don't, so YMMV. I wait for sales on oils and lye as shipping is high everywhere! They do have some discount shipping items and/or items that say free shipping but that really means the shipping is already included in the price. So check around the site and have the calculator handy to notice the differences on those items.

 

[cursivearts]

I like them for lye. Their oils are good. The only problem I have is they all come in jugs with those tiny openings, which is fine for something like olive but can suck for palm or coconut. I order from WSP for oils. I did price comparisons for some of the major supplier (Brambleberry, ED, Soapers Choice, WSP) using 7-8 lb sizes for comparison and even comparing the price per pound on that. I generally found WSP's prices are worthwhile for the free shipping alone.

 

[Shannon_m]

I use several different suppliers for my FO/EO but I love Essential Depot for their lye. I haven't gotten anything else there because I can usually find it cheaper with less shipping elsewhere.

For my FO/EO I use:

Bramble Berry - #1
Rustic Escentuals - #2
Pure Fragrance Oils - #3
Peak - #4

for my bulk oils I go through Soaper's Choice

for my shea/cocoa butter I go through Bramble Berry (not that it's cheaper there, it isn't. However I like the quality of their product and find it's superior to the others I've tried)

For colorants and other additives (like loofah or jojoba beads) I go through Bramble Berry or TKB trading. I want to order some micas from the conservatorie but the $50 limit has me putting that on the back burner for now.

For containers I go through sks-bottle.com

For packaging options I like papermart.com

For my cardstock I go through Fotobella

Labels I usually buy on Amazon because I have a Prime membership.

and sometimes for all these options I'll look at elements bath and body or wholesale supplies plus to see if they have anything I need that's on sale or what have you.

 

[houseofwool]

I too use ED for their lye, at $0.99/lb on sale, the price is hard to beat. Even with shipping, it still comes out to less than $0.25/oz. The last time the price was $0.14/oz, shipping to Wisconsin.

I like BB's EO. I found that ED orange oil simply did not stick at all in soap, even without gelling, which was disappointing. For the EO at ED, I found that you have to be really careful and check the prices on each item, some are less expensive, some are more.

 

[BotanicalWitch]

I use them for lye and oils they are reasonable and fast but Camden Grey usually beats them on the cost of oils. I have use about 8 of their FO/EO I am not a fan and now buy mine elsewhere

 

[BotanicalWitch]

BTW I am glad to see I wasn't the only one not impressed w/ their FO/EO

 

[houseofwool]

For me, Soaper's Choice is the best price for oils, hands down and because of their location, shipping is typically only 1-2 days.

 

[Second Impression]

When it comes to EOs, you get what you pay for! My personal favorites are Liberty Naturals and New Directions Aromatics and feel that the higher cost is absolutely worth it and shows (smells?) in my final bars of soap. Oh, and ED's "sale" pricing on EO's is ALWAYS like that. They're not special deals you'll miss out on by not impulse shopping And I think that's all I can say about ED's EOs without breaking forum rules, but do feel free to PM me if you want to know my experience.

 

[three_little_fishes]

I like them for lye and quick shipping (since I'm in FL). Their EOs are just ok, but better than the EOs I got from soap making resource. I need to branch out and try more places.

 

[stargazer44]

I have used them for lye - for me it's the cheapest I have found with the free shipping. I have also purchased 4 of their Red silicon mold kits. I did choke over shipping - I think they over charge - but they ship fast and I love the molds. Moving forward I will probably just buy Lye from them. Oh I bought shea butter this last time, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[lizflowers42]

They have the BEST cocoa butter, oh my word, I swear I could eat it, it smells that good!

 

[VanessaP]

For cocoa butter, I buy the wafers from Jedwards. Excellent quality and they do have organic wafers too. Shea butter, I tend to buy with my other oils at Soaper's Choice. For EOs, I would rather pick high quality and pay a little more than the cheapest price I can find so Liberty Natural is one of my favorites that I have tried from. For FOs, AHRE, NG, Aztec and BCN are my favorites. I have some favorites from other vendors like WSP and EBB, but I can honestly say that I'm not in love with BB's stuff. I find them to be expensive like WSP, slow as molasses when packing my order, and plus the ground transit time from Seattle to East TN is just unspeakable. I can find comparable scents at other vendors who are a whole lot closer. I've never tried EO or FO from ED so I can't say anything about the quality.

I use ED for all my NaOH. I will be using it for all my KOH in the future as well. I placed an order with AAA Chemical in Texas for some KOH because I wanted to order some pheno as well, and quite honestly, was a little put out that despite saying they have a 2-3 business day turnaround time, it took 8 BUSINESS days for my order to ship. I ordered on a Monday, emailed them the FOLLOWING Wednesday to ask about my order, it shipped out about 2 hours before I emailed them, and it arrived two days later.

 

[carolyntn]

VanessaP,
I like the EO's from Dianna's Sugar Plum Sundries. Have you ordered from her? She's near Chattanooga and I've always had great customer service.
Carolyn

 

[deb8907]

I recently ordered some lavender essential oil from Essential Depot and first it accelerated. I've never had a pure lavender essential oil do that before. Then it formed soda ash on the top of the bars, that never happened to me using pure lavender EO either. The bottle definitely says pure lavender essential oil, but I'm beginning to wonder if it was cut with FO.