The invention provides an aqueous composition that can alleviate at least one of the problems that conventional aqueous compositions for cosmetics have (e.g., insufficient temporal stability, insufficient viscosity increase, being incapable of being used in a variety of pH ranges and being incapable of providing sufficient thixotropy). The aqueous composition for cosmetics includes: (A) at least one selected from the group consisting of a cross-linked product of a hydroxyalkyl modified starch with a carbon number of 2 to 5, a cross-linked product of a hydroxyalkyl modified starch with a carbon number of 2 to 5 and an acyl modified starch with a carbon number of 2 to 18 and a cross-linked product of an acyl modified starch with a carbon number of 2 to 18; and (B) a water-soluble polymer material. When the water-soluble polymer material (B) is an association type poly(meth)acrylate polymer, a nonionic or cationic cellulose polymer, a poly(meth)acrylic acid polymer or xanthan gum, the aqueous composition exhibits excellent viscosity increase ratio and temporal stability.