To provide an external preparation for skin having excellent preventing actions on skin roughening and aging of the skin and preventing or ameliorating effects on formation of lipid peroxides caused by formation of active oxygen in the skin or skin inflammation or skin roughening.

The external preparation for the skin is obtained by including an extract of Nemacystus decipiens and one or two or more kinds selected from usually used antioxidants selected from carotenoids, flavonoids, tannins, gallic acid and its salts and esters, tocopherol and its derivatives, superoxide dismutase, thioredoxin, thioredoxin reductase, butylhydroxytoluene or butylhydroxyanisole in combination. A purified extract of the Nemacystus decipiens obtained by removing a low-polar fraction from a polar solvent extract of the Nemacystus decipiens according to a supercritical extraction method using carbon dioxide as a solvent or removing the low-polar fraction of the Nemacystus decipiens according to the supercritical extraction method using the carbon dioxide as the solvent and then carrying out the extraction with a polar solvent is preferably used as the extract therefrom.