Kakarot,
 
I think that there is no doubt that Dong Quai was working for aussiegirl since it contains Psoralen and bergapten which are photosensitizing.
 
Psoralens are used for viltiligo during PUVA treatment and bring on a strong tan even in fair skined.  The problem is that  psoralens are photocarcinogenic and mutagenic.  Big cancer risks.  doctors use oxsoralen and trisoralen today for PUVA treatments.  
 
The author John Griffin used psoralens to change himself into a black man. He wrote about his experiences in his book "black like me"

Quote from mel-man   on 11/05/06 at 07:32:25:

 
True, that is a problem.  Dong Quai is a psoralen.  So what I wonder is if Astralagus on its own can do anything in high oral doses -- which at least ostensibly would appear safe, even beneficial.  
 
Anybody planning on trying this?  

Maria,
 
If you do some google searching for "forskolin msh"  you will see that they both elevate cAMP.   MSH in the end actually tans by increasing cAMP.  
 
If you look at the article on the topical forskolin mice you will see that they mention "Mutations in the MSH receptor prevent the increase in cAMP levels".  This is why forskolin and msh work.  It is ultimately cAMP.
 
Don't get confused,  they are two different substances and effect more than just cAMP, so the side effects will be different.  This doesn't mean that forskolin will cause hyperpigmentation.   There are more mechanism (less important) involved in tanning also like tyrosinase, vitamin d, ACTH, dopa, ect.   Forskolin and MSH might effect these different also, thus creating different side effects.
 
So in theory they should both work the same for tanning.

Nov, 10,'06
Here are the pictures. #1

Pic#2

Same as you unless you have a suggestion.  
I think your experiment has been very well done.  It leaves us with unanswered questions. Among them are:  
1) Did some or all of the "tanning" come from staining?
2) Are there considerations to tanning larger areas?  
3) Why did the tanning reach a plateau after 15 days?  
 
I am presently prepping my skin to remove hyperpigmentation and other blemishes.  Peel, Lactic acid,laser to mention a few.  I also have sun damaged skin so my skin tends to have a lot of variation in color.  I plan to test with 95% forskolin (if I can afford it).  I have a vendor trying to locate it now.  The test should show if hyperpigmentation comes back as well as if white spots get tanned. I researched these white spots somewhat.  They are not normally perminant.  They are almost round and vary in size up to about the size of a quarter.  
 
This test should answer:
  1) Does forskoln produce hyperpigmentation?
  2) Does forskolin tan sun damaged skin?
  3) Does wide area application pose any special problems?
  4) Are forskolin impurities staining the skin?

From the lit I keep reading, these cAMP elevating topicals like Forskolin and IBMX look like they'd need like at least a good month of application to kick in.  Human skin is fairly thick.

My vendor is unable to supply 95% Forskolin. He writes:
"No, Forskolin is not normally made into a solid extract.  Tincture is easy
to find and I have been too busy to pull out the catalogs and go through
them.  I'll keep looking."
 
I now have to figure out if Tincture is a valid substitute.  Suggestions?

hey Socalguy,
 
 
hows the test been going lately?

My post #67 outlined my plan with sun exposure to the test areas. Since the sun is now in the southern hemisphere and getting weak here I tried to get exposure around noon.
11-10 20min. uv, 11-11 cloudy no uv, 11-12 30mins., 11-13 & 14 45mins., 11-15 & 16 50 mins.
The photo 2 days since I last applied forskolin and took last UV shows: I only got sunburned on the exposed skin and broke out with a PMLE reaction. So the forskolin did not protect my skin nor produce any significant darkening.
It's interesting that the lowest patch #1 untreated skin with no sunscreen, shows less sunburn than patches # 2,3,4 the treated skin. This leads me to believe that Forskolin may be a photosensitizer just like the Psoralens. I will take another photo in two days, hopefully the PMLE will have decreased and sunburn gone away enough to see if there is any darkening.
Since I never had a tan or used melanotan/melanotan II, I can't say if or how dark I could get. Human skin is thicker than mice.
1] I believe the propylene glycol is not an adequate transporter of the forskolin through the human skin.
2] I believe for the forskolin to work, it would need to be put into a liposome form to penetrate down to the dermis. I tried adding it to some liposome creams I had, but this did nothing not even stain the skin.
3] I think it needs to be chemically engineered into a liposome form by a chemical lab who specialize in this. Maybe Dr. Fisher's Co. will be able to develope this and hopefully the FDA won't have to get involved.
One person does not make a conclusive trial. Perhaps other type I & II's will try and report their results in detail. It may work in others. Even the cautious FDA approves all sorts of drugs that show results in only 50-60% of tests.
Those of you who can't get 98% ethanol, I found that 99% Isopropyl alcohol did take the forskolin into solution. I bought it off the shelf at Vons market- Safeway brand $2.00/pint. you can buy propylene glycol at a compounding pharmacy.
I may try a short trial using DMSO, a local herb store has it $13.50/8oz.