How To Know If Your Essential Oils Have Expired (In 5 Seconds Or Less)

Essential oils are packed with some pretty amazing healing benefits—but alas, nothing lasts forever.

Just like the oils we cook with, essential oils do eventually "go bad." While an expired oil won't be dangerous to use per se, it will lose its potency and become just another good smell—or a not-so-great one. "Expired oils will smell nasty!" says Mariza Snyder, D.C., a functional medicine practitioner and author of Smart Mom's Guide to Essential Oils. "If it smells like something you don't want to put on yourself, you probably shouldn't."

"The quality of oil definitely plays a big role in the shelf life," Snyder adds, so if you want your oil to last a while, you'll want to make sure you're buying one that isn't made using additives or carrier oils.

More telltale signs that an oil will last? It'll be packaged in a dark bottle (too much light can deteriorate your oils over time), have an orifice reducer (because oils will go bad quicker when they're exposed to oxygen), and be clearly marked with the plant's Latin name and expiration date. "Not all oils have expiration dates on them, which really concerns me," Snyder says. "If they don't, you really don't know what you're working with."

Choosing a high-quality oil is the first step, and from there you need to make sure you're taking proper care of your new sensory sidekicks. It's pretty simple: Just keep the bottles closed when they're not in use—remember what I said about oxygen exposure?—and don't leave them out in really hot places if you can avoid it.