NOW FoodsEssential Oils, Lavender Oil, Soothing Aromatherapy Scent, Steam Distilled, 100% Pure, Vegan, Child Resistant Cap, 4-Ounce

Bought this for my friend to use in her business and she's enjoying it and also her customers. Smells awesome and value for the money

Fantastic aroma. Great dropper to get the amount you need. Large size to last a long time

So...I just felt I had to defend this product from what is more likely to be misunderstanding on the part of the consumer than a shortcoming of the company (Now Foods, not Amazon).Look, I'm no world renowned lavender breeder, but I know there are MANY types of lavender. They do not all smell the same. Likewise, for example, German and Roman chamomile smell 'similar' but not alike. You will see plenty of folks crabbing about they got 'fake' or low quality chamomile because they got a bottle of German and all they ever smelled before was Roman.So some of the bad reviews, I believe, from self titled rabid lavender fans, are due to this. 'I know lavender; we had a lavender bush growing up, and this isn't it'...well, that just means you had lavender breed X and this apparently isn't that.Always check that your oil brand lists the scientific name, the actual species/breed, not just ‘lavender’, ‘chamomile’ etc. You’ll notice differences in scent, and better literature will specify the species when it makes a difference (and for some purposes it DOES make a difference which ‘geranium’ or whatnot is used).Lavender will also smell different depending on whether just blooms are used, or leaves, or stems, and in what ratio. That is not a flaw either. Some people prefer a 'bloomier' oil, some people desire a little more herbal stringency and want some stems/leaves. It's not right or wrong, any more than telling someone who likes a lot of tannins in a wine they are wrong and you should only like a little.I would say in my experience this particular brand tends to mix stems/leaves with blooms though not to a slap-you-in-the-face degree. And Companies also have to change their blends sometimes for one reason or another (weather, harvests, who knows).Honestly, I would think lavender fanatics would know this,if even I do, & take that into account.Now, the other major roadblock is that quite frankly, there's a lot of third party sellers on this site that just shouldn't be sheltered by Amazon. They are selling either adulterated actual product or downright fake.People will buy the real stuff, pour most of it into other bottles, slap a label on and sell those bottles as 'Laurie's Awesome Lavender Oil' or whatever and then take the nearly empty Now bottle,fill it with whatever, and sell it to us. Twice the profit for them! It could be water or canola oil for all you know. But it has just enough lavender smell to fool you for two minutes till you USE it and decide Now Foods are the dirty bums, not the third party seller.There is, finally, the fact that if someone sold you oil that has been stored improperly or is old, it's not gonna be good. Again that's the fault of the seller, not the manufacturer.I have always bought oils from EITHER:A) a local business I feel I can safely trust, like a major grocery chain or a local health food type store that I've made other trustworthy sales withB) a third party amazon seller who has a high number of ratings of which the vast majority must be positiveC) amazon itself, directly. Look at who is selling the item. You know, where it says 'Sold By'. Does it say Amazon.com? Great. They are very easy to work with. Does it say 'Biff's Fine Beauty Supply'? Then see B above.I don't know what else to say. My experience with this oil and Now Foods has always been fine. I've owned probably six bottles of the lavender and all have been fine for me. I don't think it smells chemically or synthetic; I just think those folks either prefer the softer, bloomier mixes or got an adulterated bottle. I own probably forty of the Now oils and several of their carrier oils and while I agree they are not usually the height of superior product to be found anywhere in the world, FOR THE MONEY they are excellent.I have used the two major MLM brands (do not and never did sell them), as well as many of the major hippie-store-type brands (Mountain Rose Herbs, Pranarom/Veritidas, etc) and I’ve got to opine Now holds its own most of the time...not all.Other oils are frequently five or more times the cost but are not five or more times as amazing, and usually come in a smaller bottle to boot. You know what, nebulizing diffusers go through oil like crazy...so for me, not a wealthy Hilton heir, these represent very good value.2018: I still buy Now lavender oil. It’s still good!Also, when people tell you, drop oil on white paper to see if it leaves a mark as a purity test, know ALL oils do not do this! Only ‘most’. Patchouli, sandalwood, myrhh, vetiver, German chamomile, etc, will stain paper. Do some research so you’re not a) wasting cash throwing out real oils or b) slandering companies selling real oils because someone told you oil is fake if it leaves a mark. I have had people tell me they won’t buy this lavender oil because their Now patchouli failed ‘The Test’. Sigh.

One of the best essential oils I have found. Great ingredient in 4TO and sanitizer for multipurpose use.

As you probably know, not all lavender essential oils are created equally. Where in the world the lavender comes from, makes a big difference on what it smells like. I love this lavender scent. I put a little bit on a dryer ball every time I dry my clothes so that they have a slight lavender scent. A bottle of this size will last me probably six months so well worth the price.

It certainly is not 100% Pure essential oil. I have used real 100% pure lavender oil from other sellers and can tell the difference immediately. This one actually smells too much of Jajoba oil which is gone rancid.

Sorry. Really bad pun. Worse, it was intentional. Apologies.I've used NOW FOODS lavender oil, along with several other of their other essential oils, for years. Generally, their quality is good, on some orders, it's been very good.But the last two orders I've received have had absolutely UNREMOVABLE childproof caps. I assume they must be childproof, because there has to be a reason for something that totally crappy. The first one I received I dismissed as probably a manufacturing error, some machine that wasn’t calibrated right, it wouldn’t happen again, I’d just make the best of it and pry the cap off any way I could.That was before I gouged a large chunk of flesh out of the hand trying to hold the bottle while I applied various tools with the other hand in an effort to pry the protective black cap off the translucent plastic cap that actually seals the bottle.I was a lot less mellow and understanding after that. Ask anyone who was in earshot at the time, and has recovered sufficiently to understand what you’re saying to them ….I've tried to pry open this second bottle, my husband's tried, then I tried again, then I handed it back to him for a 4th round. On this second round, I noticed the still-angry reddish-brown scar on my left hand from the battle with the first bottle, and I got pissed all over again.How are we supposed to believe that NOW cares enough about its customers to provide an unadulterated, quality lavender oil when they aren't even brite or caring enough to figure out that their bottle cap is impossible to open?And it's not like they haven’t heard *that* before. I've read thru the numerous reviews and have lost track of the number of complaints, one after another, from people who, like me, did their best, tried, tried, and tried again, and failed miserably.Conveniently for the sellers, they state that there are no returns or exchanges for this product, so they get frustrated customers buying yet *another* bottle in the hope that the first, impossible one, was a fluke.Ha. As if……My hub is currently going at the thing with a large, industrial strength pair of metal cutters. So far, he's been at it for about 15 minutes and has managed to peel away small bits of the outer black cap. I suppose he'll eventually get down to the translucent white cap, and I predict that when he does, it will have been either crazy-glued to the bottle, or fused to the glass. You know, just to keep the good times rollin’…..HOW CAN A REPUTABLE COMPANY BE SO **COMPLETELY** OBLIVIOUS ???? IS IT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE TO BE **THAT** DENSE AND RUN A PROFITABLE ENTERPRIZE ???Well then, WOOOO-HOO!!! Move over Tesla, here I come ....EDIT: As the final pay-off, when my hub finally got the cap off (will come back and post pics of the destroyed black cap and the inadequately notched translucent under-cap if I can stand to), we discovered that the contents were ….. just wrong. Even the hub, whose nose isn’t as picky or precise as mine is, immediately said, “Ohhhhh, I don’t like this …. this doesn’t smell like lavender oil …”. He’s been using lavender EO for years after I turned him on to its excellence in fighting itchy bug bites, bad burns, cleaning and disinfecting cuts and scrapes, rubbing on tired feet just before bed for better sleep, and putting about 10 drops in a sinkful of hot water to wash his face in the morning. Great way to wake up.And he’s right. It’s got an odd, kind of ‘off’ smell to it that I can’t quite describe. A little metallic, a little chemically (and not in a good way, since all EO’s are essentially tightly packed chemical constructs). Maybe a slight undertone of mildew? It’s very hard to describe, but having used lavender oil for over 30 years, I have a pretty good idea of what it should smell like, and this isn’t it.I’ve put a drop or two on paper to see if it passes that test …..EDIT, 01-10-21 .... It passed the oil blot test perfectly.I’m going to let my nose rest and try it again tomorrow when I’m fresh.EDIT, 01-10-21 .... It smelled a lot better on my second 'fresh nose' test the next morning. A sort of spicy undertone, the mildewy scent is gone, so it was my nose, not the product.Will update this review and the star rating with any new or further information in a day or two ….EDIT .... 01-10-21 .... have added another star to my review, but given the extremely problematic issues with the undefeatable, unremovable cap, I can't give it 5 stars, as I normally would have. PLEASE, PLEASE, OHHHH PLEASE FIX THIS, NOW FOODS. It doesn't matter how good your product is if customers can't open the container and wind up cursing your name unto the 10th generation, no?

Good smell, good product, backed by a good company and a decent price.