Storing Essential Oils

How to Store Your Essential Oils for Long-Lasting Potency

Essential oils are powerful, concentrated plant extracts—but they’re also delicate. If stored incorrectly, they can oxidize, lose their therapeutic value, or even become irritating to the skin over time.

Let’s make sure your oils stay safe, effective, and ready for use with your pets and family…

Best Practices for Storing Essential Oils

• Keep them cool
  Store oils in a comfortable room temperature environment

• Protect from light
  Always store oils in dark glass bottles (amber or cobalt blue) and away from direct sunlight. UV light breaks down the chemical constituents, especially in oils like Lemon, Orange, or Helichrysum.

• Avoid oxygen exposure
  Always tightly seal your bottle after use. Oxygen speeds up oxidation, especially in oils high in monoterpenes (like citrus or pine).

• Use original bottles
  Essential oils should stay in their original glass bottles with proper labels—this prevents cross-contamination, keeps the dropper reducer intact, and avoids reactions with plastic.

• Store upright
  Essential oil caps are not 100% leak-proof long term. Storing upright avoids leakage and damage to caps or surfaces.

• Keep away from pets and kids
  Even though we’re using oils for pets, we don’t want them ingesting full-strength essential oils by accident or chewing on the bottles when they find one they like. Use a dedicated, closed storage box or cabinet. Mine hang on the wall in a nail-polish holder

Bonus Tip:

If your oil smells “off”—sharp, sour, or plasticky—it may be oxidized. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s useless, but you may want to avoid using it topically or with animals. It might still be fine for cleaning or diffusing in open spaces.

Oxidization may be most likely in Citrus Oils or Oil already blended with a carrier. It’s usually the carrier that goes rancid not the essential oil itself.

Shop nail polish wall hanger to use for oils — I have two of them!