So right now I'm at the White Phial, and I just buy every ingredient and then make every potion I can, restock his inventory, repeat. I have full 125% alchemy gear on, and the thieve stone active and it's going terribly slow even at level 38. Any tips?

The more valuable the potions you create, the more experience you get from making them. Here, this site tells you the most expensive potions you can make (after you input your ingredients, anyway): http://keke.itarium.ch/uploads/alchemy/

The only thing it lacks, IMO, is a "return to top" link at the bottom of the page.

It's nice. But it doesn't figure in that you run out of something. Like, it told me to use Garlic + Juniper Barries + Moon Sugar, and I did, but then I don't have those and it tells me to make more potions WITH those ingredients. With the ingredients I checked off, it gave me 138 results. That's too much for me to filter through. >.<

Usually I make the first one until I run out of something, then uncheck the thing I ran out of and click the button again, so I only ever have to look at the top entry.

Good idea. I shall try this.

Well, it's working well. I think. I'm making really high value potions, but it takes so long to put all my stuff into the calculator and remove it as I make potions it feels slower almost. I feel like Alchemy shouldn't be this slow, and I'm only 44 at the moment. Bah.

Yeah, Alchemy takes ages compared to Smithing or Enchanting. I recommend buying training if you have the cash.

I have the cash, but I'm also level 53, so I don't level up all that often. :\

Alchemy goes a lot faster if you have a ton of ingredients at your disposal (duh)... you can spend more time just spamming the "create potion" button and less time figuring out which potion to create.

I recommend buying a house & alchemy table, and just storing all your ingredients there as you buy them up and find them out questing (the house in Whiterun has an alchemist's sack on the table that's great for this). Everytime you head home or back to town, just store your ingredients. I also kept my enchanted chef's hat & ring & necklace that fortified alchemy in the satchel.

That way, when you do decide to tackle alchemy, there's no waiting and no buying more ingredients... you have hundreds (thousands?) of them at your disposal.

I found enchanting slower, first you has to get all the gems, yes blackreach helps here, then fill them, and then enchant one and one item while in alchemy and smithing you can just push an button madly.

Think best way is to buy all cheap to medium cost ingredients, also pick flowers along the roads, now focus on ingredients you have plenty off, look up effects and combine with other things to uncover effects.

You want expensive potions as they level you fast and sell well as an bonus. Basically you want fortify or weakness effects, use three ingredients to get two effects on the potion as it will double price or better while only using 50% more ingredients.

However do not get hanged up in price and only make things with giant toes, every potion helps, you can also make useful things like healing+ fortify health potions and slow 50% poisons easy.

Heh, I always make as many of the Blue Mountain Flower + Wheat I can manage. They get to be crazy powerful eventually.