Storing Essential Oils

I have been using essential oils for probably 15 years now.  I originally started using them back when I had my own soap making/bath and body product business.  I loved that my products were unique because they were made with only natural therapeutic fragrances.

Over the years my essential oil collection has slowly grown.  I like to make my own blends either based on a fragrance that I want or for specific purposes like using Lavender and Ylang Ylang to soothe my soul at the end of the day.

I used to store my oils in an old shoe box but the cardboard got flimsy over time and I didn't want a bottle of oil to fall out and break on the floor when I picked up the box.  I moved my essential oils to a plastic storage box with a snap-on lid.  This was nice and sturdy but the plastic was translucent so they were still getting light exposure even when they were put away.  Essential oils do not turn rancid like nut and vegetable oils but their quality and strength can degrade over time if they are not stored properly.  It's best to keep them in the dark and in a cool place. 

Fortunately, I was able to re-purpose this big makeup bag that I've had for several years.   It is just perfect for my needs!  It is hard-sided so my oils will not get easily bumped around.  It is not translucent so my oils stay completely in the dark.  It has a handle for easy carrying.  I like this because sometimes I want to just carry the whole bag downstairs instead of just a bottle or two and this keeps them ready to go at all times.  (If I didn't want to be able to transport my oils, I would probably look into making a dedicated drawer for my essential oils and use these cool wooden storage boxes intended for kitchen gadgets.  I just love the way it is all organized!) Plus it just looks sharp!

Inside, it is big enough to hold most of my oils.  I do have some large 16 oz bottles of oil that will not fit in this box but I just transfer some of those oils to fresh 1/2 oz bottles so I will always have at least some of each of my oils in this special bag.  I keep my smallest bottles and some accessories like a little funnel in a little plastic box in the middle to keep them all together.  Notice that I've tried to balance the weight even throughout so that one side isn't heavier than the other.  This helps keep the bag from trying to slosh over to one side and sliding my oils around.

I use mostly amber boston round bottles but some of the bottles are a dark blue.  Both are good for storing essential oils in but the amber bottles are darker so they might keep them protected from light a little bit better.  

I either don't have anything in the opening of my essential oil bottles or else I may have an orifice reducer like you see in the picture below.  These make it easy to release just a few drops of the essential oil at a time.  This is a much better way to control the drops than to use a dropper in the cap.  Essential oils can degrade plastic and rubber over time so a dropper that stays sitting down in the oil for extended periods of time is not a good idea.

For times that I may need to get more than just a few drops of essential oil out of the bottle, I use a pipette to suction up larger amounts of the oil like I might use in lotion or soap recipes.  Although the pipettes are considered disposable, I'm too cheap to buy a new pipette every time I use an oil.  So I use snack size zip top bags to store them in.  I don't want to cross-contaminate the different oils with each other so each oil has its own dedicated pipette that goes in its own labeled baggie.  They fit right in my essential oil storage box.

This may not be the perfect system for everyone but it has worked well for me over the years.  If you use essential oils, I'd love to hear how you store yours!