The House of Kerosene is the brainchild of John Pegg. Pegg was born and raised in St. Clair, Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit. As Pegg says, "Where I'm from, if you didn't work in the automobile field, you were most likely unemployed. While each factory may produce a different car part, every factory was exactly the same: production and numbers. To get out of that scene, I learned how to paint and wrench on motorcycles. As I worked, I loved the scent of dirt, grease, oil and sometimes blood from a busted knuckle. I've always been captivated by scents: gasoline, stamped steel, plastic, trees, and earth."

After smelling everything he could get his nose on, Pegg created the House of Kerosene, with the goal to create fragrances that are raw, unique, and approachable. And the rest, as they say, is history. Currently, the House of Kerosene has a catalogue of 11 fragrances.

Pegg also put his painting talents to work, and his factory-production background came in handy. Each Kerosene bottle is painted with high-quality automotive paint and clearcoat. Pegg likens it to if a shiny, classic Ford collided with perfume, as songs by The Cure resonated out of the tiny speakers from the clunky 8-track player.

Hailing from Michigan, which is frigid about seven months of the year, Pegg says he's "naturally attracted" to warm notes like amber, woods, and spices. And these notes frequently do appear in his fragrant creations.

As Pegg say, "I'm a simple person, but my scents won't be."