Provided is a thickening composition which exhibits excellent feelings in use namely exhibits excellent freshness nonstickiness and compatibility with the skin and does not leave any residue on the skin. Further the thickening composition can stably keep viscosity in a low to medium viscosity region and does not cause any viscosity change even when a salt type component is added. Also provided are cosmetics that contain the same. A thickening composition which contains (a) 0.1 to 2% by mass of a specific hydrophobic modified polyether urethane (associative thickener) and (b) 0.1 to 2% by mass of a microgel obtained by crushing a gel that consists of a gelatinizable hydrophilic compound at an (a)/(b) mass ratio of 0.1:0.9 to 0.9:0.1 and which has a viscosity of 50 to 50 000mPa·s (as determined with a BL type viscometer at 12 revolutions and 25°C) and cosmetics that contain the thickening composition.
