Kerosene Fragrances

Kerosene Fragrances is one of the most popular indie fragance brands today, and perfumer John Pegg's scents live up to the hype. With a previous life as a motorcycle mechanic, his perfumes draw inspiration from the industrial smells of the mechanic's garage as well as the stories and music of his life. A shop top-selling collection.

"I was born and raised in St. Clair, Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit. 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, earth, and eventually a name was forged, Kerosene. 

After smelling everything I could get my snout on, I felt it was time to see if I could combine the right notes and create something special. My goal for my scents will always follow my three ingredients; raw, unique, and approachable... Hailing from Michigan, which is frigid about seven months of the year, I am naturally attracted to warm notes. Amber, woods, and spices, they do it for me and make their way into a lot of what I do. I'm a simple person, but my scents won't be."  — John Pegg, Kerosene

Read our 2021 interview with John Pegg on the launch of his perfume, Triptych.