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Butterfly Express essential oils is a grass-roots, down-to-earth oil company that has been in business for over 22 years. So I thought it was time to review them for you!
If you’re looking to shop with a truly experienced aromatherapy company, Butterfly Express might be the choice for you.
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure policy here.
While their marketing, packaging and overall brand curb appeal may perhaps be lacking, the quality of oils does not suffer. Butterfly oils are potent, strong, and pure.
Please enjoy my in-depth company review in this article and let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the brand that I wasn’t able to answer.
What’s the Best Thing about Butterfly Express Oils?
- It’s ran by a mother-daughter team of true essential oil people.
- Over 22 years of experience, grown from a humble operation to 30 employees today.
- Pure, strong, and potent essential oils and oil blends.
- A full line-up of aromatherapy accessories to shop from in their online store.
- They have never been in it for the money. They want to be able to look out for their employees, and want to help people have better health.
What are the Drawbacks?
- Shipping is only free on orders of $150+. But, shipping is affordable at around $6.99 only, per order.
- The packaging is somewhat basic.
- Blend names are strange; they all stwith the letters “Le”, such as “LeBreezy” or “LeTranquility”. There reason for this is to comply with laws of non-competition where one oil brand cannot have the same blend name, as another. “Le” is French for “The”.
Company and Ownership
LaRee (left) and Valaree Westover during a recent Facebook LIVE.
Butterfly Express is an Idaho based company, run by LaRee and Valaree Westover, a mother and daughter team who enjoy teaching together and helping people discover the wonderful world of essential oils.
What sets apart Butterfly Express from other essential oil companies is their true-to-their-roots approach. The original company was founded over 22 years ago as a on-demand apothecary ran out of a cottage kitchen by LaRee Westover. With a focus on education and outreach, the company grew to now 30 staff members, many of which are still family members, multiple generations working side-by-side.
It is a family-oriented essential oil company that strives to provide prompt and accurate service. They employ knowledgeable staff that help customers understand herbal medicines and essential oils.
Nobody can teach you more about essential oils that people who have successfully used them as natural medicines for years and years.
Product Quality
Butterfly Express Health & Happiness Kit of essential oils
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While testing their oils, I’ve found them to be strong, potent, and pure. I did work with the brand directly to get answers to the most important questions, such as “Are their oils 100% pure?”, “Where do oils come from?”, and “How do they guarantee quality?”, and here’s what I’ve found out:
Butterfly Express oils are purchased all over on the world market. When an oil is purchased, they request samples from a variety of sources and compare the quality. This is always done by someone who has been using oils for 20+ years. Once a favorite sample is selected, the oil is ordered. When the oil is received, it is compared by the person who ordered it to the sample that was sent. If they don’t match (they usually do), the oil is returned. If they do match, then 2 more people are asked to check the oil for quality. These are people who have also been using essential oils for a decade or more. At this point if everyone loves the oil, it is checked in an put up for sale.
The company doesn’t offer independent 3rd party testing. All testing is done by experienced smell testers. If this sounds odd to you, don’t be shocked. Oil “smell” testing is actually part of many internal testing processes and reviews. The power of an experienced human nose is not to be underestimated.
While GC/MS tests are useful and I personally like to see a brand do them, they are definitely not the only way to ensure a quality oil.
Product Line-Up
Herbal salve for minor cuts or burns
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Butterfly Express not only sells essential oils. Their online store also carries a good amount of aromatherapy accessories that you might need, such as carrier oils, hydrosols, storage cases, bottles & supplies, personal inhalers, essential oil books, and a few ultrasonic diffusers.
The brand also carries other natural health products such as lotions, rubs, salves, soaps, dried herbs, vitamins and supplements. One very unique product they sell is blessed waters, which are energetic remedies similar to homeopathic supplements. Homeopathy is a whole other topic that is quite complicated. Butterfly Expressions starts with 2-day classes to help people into energy healing understand these amazing remedies.
Another item which I’d definitely buy again, is their Miracle Salve, which I’ve been able to test as part of the Mini Starter Set I’ve reviewed.
Blends
While I appreciate the blends provided by Butterfly Express, I find their naming practices a bit confusing. You can see in the following examples that it’s pretty hard to tell what a blend does, by reading the blend name alone.
Butterfly Express formulates specific blends for a variety of purposes.
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For example:
- LeVallee: for rebuilding skin and muscle tissue following a severe burn.
- LeAspire: for relief from colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, respiratory congestion, allergy symptoms, deep pneumonia, pleurisy, asthma and flu that have settled in the lungs.
- LeDeeper: anti-inflammatory oils which aid in relieving pain that is deep in the tissues and nerves.
- LeInsideOut: Helpful in discovering and sorting through emotions underlying digestive problems.
- LeEternity: Balances energy and improves both mood and mental outlook.
- LeLifeForce: Raises frequency of the body, improving outlook and response to stress and trauma.
As for the “Le” in front of each blend name: “Le” is french for “the”, and years ago the company was advised by a lawyer not to name oil blends with names other oil companies have used. They try very hard not to do this, but the “Le” assures that there is always a difference in blend names.
While testing this brand, I chose the blend LeWomanWise, which is meant to help get our emotions back on track when our hormones are out of balance. Any woman suffering from PMS symptoms knows exactly how strange it feels when hormones are out of whack. So, a woman-specific natural oil blend for balancing emotions is always welcome.
The ingredients on LeWomanWise read: Clary Sage, Jasmine, Lavender, Marjoram, Patchouli, Spikenard, Rue, St. John’s Wort. I can tell you it is an absolutely heavenly blend! I appreciate that it uses essential oils of Rue and St. John’s Wort. This proves to me that a true aromatherapist is behind the formulation of this blend.
Packaging and Customer Experience
Mini Starter Kit from Butterfly Express
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Honestly, I feel bad criticizing an essential oil brand’s packaging, but I can’t help to tell you that it does add (or take away) from the overall consumer experience. While the packaging is functional, it does feel somewhat basic.
I ordered the Mini Starter Kit, plus the bigger Health & Happiness kit, which contains a great set of oils to get started with.
The Mini Starter Kit came in a cardboard box as shown in the image above. The pamphlet, while full of great information, was printed on a standard 8 ½” x 11” paper and looked like what I could print out at home. It also looked like it was folded by hand by the people packaging the sets. It wasn’t professionally designed nor professionally produced. It looks like a handout my mother would give to me, not something that I’d order from a reputable online essential oil brand.
The Health & Happiness kit came in a fabric storage case. While functional, still felt cheaply made. The branding was only adhered onto the top of the pouch in the form of stickers. The inside is a standard foam insert with a thin plastic bottom to hold all of the oils together.
The Health + Happiness Kit comes in a fabric storage case with multiple color options
Have a look
A Focus on Education
Butterfly Express is focused on providing education and understanding about essential oils and herbal medicines. This is just as important to them as providing good quality, affordable products.
Therefore, Butterfly Expressions teaches a variety of free classes through their website. Many classes and educational videos are also available on their YouTube channel. It’s not a fancy, styled YouTube channel, but the information is solid. If you’re looking to learn from a seasoned aromatherapist, tune in here.
Final Thoughts
Quality-wise, I would use Butterfly Express essential oils again. Brand-experience wise, it wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d shop with Plant Therapy, Rocky Mountain Oils or Edens Garden first.
I understand that marketing isn’t everyone’s strong suit. I also understand that it’s hard to compete in today’s essential oils market, where some companies have huge amount of dollars available for marketing and branding only. However, the oily lifestyle plays a huge part in consumer purchasing behavior, and lifestyle-wise, Butterfly Express has a long way to go.
Perhaps I’m not their target market. Perhaps, Butterfly Express is better suited for experienced, more mature aromatherapy users, and not the 30-something’s (like myself), who also like things to be pretty.
If you don’t mind the quirky blend names, the homey-feeling pamphlets and the basic packaging, Butterfly Express oils can be a great place to shop for you.
Note: I have received the products for the sake of writing this article at no charge. All testing and review has been done in honesty and to my best abilities. All opinions are my own. There is no financial compensation being made for me posting this review.
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