A skin observing apparatus capable of observing the skin texture, blotches caused from subcutaneous pigmentation and skin roughness caused from keratin abrasion by a single unit of image pick-up device without using a polarization plate for observing blotches or consumption articles such as a keratin sampling seal, the apparatus including an image pick-up head having an view hole to be in contact with a skin and, provided inside the image pick-up device, an image pick-up device for picking-up images of the skin through the view hole, and an illumination system comprising three systems, that is, a texture observing illumination system for irradiating a white light to the view hole along the image pick-up light axis (X), a keratin abrasion observing illumination system for irradiating a white light to the view hole from the lateral direction thereof, and a subcutaneous pigment observing illumination system for irradiating a UV-light to the view hole.