To provide a skin care preparation for external use having gel structure of high salt resistance.

This skin care preparation for external use is a cosmetic containing a thickening polymer, wherein the thickening polymer comprises a carboxyvinyl polymer and/or its salt and alginic acid and/or its salt. In this skin care preparation, the alkali metal ion content of the system is adjusted so as to be 2 equivalents or less based on the carboxyvinyl polymer. The alginic acid and/or its salt comprises preferably an alkaline earth metal salt of alginic acid, and the content of the alginic acid and/or its salt in this skin care preparation is preferably 0.01-0.2 mass%, more preferably 0.02-0.15 mass%.