TikTok star Skylar Jade Valencia has traveled the world for her content, from luxury hotels in Bali to the cobblestone streets in Europe, and now back to her father’s hometown in Bulacan, where she first learned to pose on tricycles and balance on half-built bridges. The daughter of a longtime DPWH engineer involved in the province’s flood control projects, Skylar grew up surrounded by both scaffolding and spotlights. All this traveling is one reason why a routine that settles her is so important for the influencer, who now divides her time between her penthouse suite at a Bonifacio Global City condo and their mini-mansion in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Valencia spoke with The Tourist Gaze (formerly Out-of-School Routes) recently about her best travel hacks and shooting content amidst Bulacan’s unfinished flood control projects. “Every time I travel, I always look for things that remind me of our house. Whether that’s a ring light from IKEA—in Stockholm, not in Mall of Asia—or my favorite whitening soap from a boutique shop on 5th Avenue, it helps make the transition feel manageable,” she said.
Making travel as fashionable as possible also helps Valencia when she’s on the go, and for her, that means packing more. “I love using three or four suitcases and trying to bring everything.” Is she concerned that this could lead to longer time at the airport check-in counter and more time spent unpacking? “Not really,” she said. “It means less risk of running out of what to wear,” she said. “I don’t repeat outfits.”
However, she says her packing mantra can have some downsides, especially when she is in a flood-prone town. “I feel sorry for my yayas when they drag those luggage across the mud. Sometimes I’m even ankle-deep in mud. I’m like, ‘Oh, no, my sneakers!’ Argh!”
Influencer Essentials with Skylar Jade Valencia
Window or aisle seat?
Doesn’t matter. We have our own plane.
What’s your go-to travel activity?
Selfies, obviously. Sometimes I go live, too. I know people are dying to see what happens to me as I explore a place.
What’s your go-to travel outfit?
White sneakers and a neutral-toned dress. They say it’s impractical for canals and mud, but that’s why it works. A queen should conquer terrain, not yield to it.
What’s an item you cannot travel without?
My phone, of course!
What’s the most unexpected item in your tote right now?
You know, I bought this book The Alchemist. I don’t read it, ‘coz I had ChatGPT summarize it for me. But a friend told me it’s got this “manifest your journey” vibe, and I love carrying that vibe with me.
Favorite local experience so far?
A few days ago, my dad took me to a town also here in Bulacan, but they have so many unfinished flood control embankments. They’re so… conceptual. Like me, they’re unfinished products. Like… anything can happen!
Favorite food find?
Oh, I love that quail egg covered in orange flour, but I’m trying to be vegan right now. I told my friend that Buco— Baco— this city lacks vegan restaurants, and that they should “modernize.” She just laughed, but someday she’ll believe me.
Biggest travel challenge?
It can be overwhelming when people stop me in the mall or at a restaurant just to get a picture. But I also know it’s, like, part of my responsibility. When you’re this pretty, it’s basically public service to share it.
What’s next on your travel list?
Calumpit! Or Hagonoy. Whichever town still has a ghost project waiting for me to #bless it.
When she does go to Bulacan in whichever neutral-toned top she packs, she always returns to her favorite spot: the half-finished river embankment near her dad’s friend’s political tarpaulin. “It’s such an inspiring experience, yet it’s boutique and cozy. The rebar, the moss, the location—I love it all,” she told TTG.
Bulacan isn’t a short trip from BGC, and the journey often takes a three-hour crawl on EDSA and NLEX. So the first thing she does upon arriving in Bocaue is shoot an outfit video. “It helps me feel refreshed and get on with the day like half an icon, not a full zombie,” she said. She also recommends after the shoot to have a soothing drink. “I ask one of my yayas—Ate Mhae—to make me a cup of matcha latte. After a travel day, there’s nothing better. A relaxing stream can work wonders, not just for unwinding, but for helping reset and adjust to the algorithm.”
For her next trip, Valencia is planning local. She is hoping to purchase a famous rice field in Nueva Ecija or maybe an abandoned resort in Pampanga someday. “But I never tire of Bulacan. I just don’t get here often enough. Now that my dad’s other house has been converted into a separate house for our yayas and drivers, I am actually less motivated to visit. But I have a mission for my home city.”
And what exactly is that mission? Valencia finds that even some of the most luxurious local experiences are still lacking something. The flood-prone city gave her a first-hand look at how underserved the population is when it comes to “aesthetic spaces.” She said she sometimes feels “unappealing” without proper skin tone, which is why she started Blessed Beauty in 2024, a wellness line featuring toners and sunblocks designed to make canal-side selfies pop. “For so many years, no one cared about provincial influencers. Everyone just wanted photos of Metro Manila celebrities partying or relaxing in Boracay or Siargao. How are we supposed to feel like icons if our riverside selfies get ignored?” she said.
This year, the brand partnered with a friend of her father on a comprehensive promotional kit. Said friend, a local politician, has a network of PR experts who can curate Valencia’s marketing materials and get retail placement at every mall in Bulacan. “We content creators spend roughly a third of our lives playing the algorithm game. There’s a huge market being underserved. Our aesthetics get affected especially during typhoon season, so it makes sense that our self-care experiences should evolve too. Offering specialized support that caters to those situations is so important, and that’s what our goal is,” she told TTG.
She hopes to see Blessed Beauty in more stores in the future, so the residents of Bulacan can look great even if their houses are submerged in floods.
Bocaue Travel Basics, Skylar Jade-Style
Access
- “Obviously, the most efficient way to get to Beco— Bacu— ugh, this city, is by car. It’s doesn’t ruin my hair and my ego. Jeepneys are great for content, and I’ll hop on one for aesthetics. But ohmygosh, they’re so mausok.”
- “Buses? Oh, they’re okay if I can rent one for myself, but I prefer a large van.”
Transportation
- “Still cars. Duh!”
- “Oh, for content? Tricycles are cute. They make me look petite and approachable. But they’re not always aesthetic inside, so I bring fabric swatches to use as my own seat covers. As for jeepneys, they’re colorful, but they clash with neutral outfits.”
Activities
- “Actually, there’s nothing for me to do here. There’s not even a single mall! You have to go to neighboring cities for that. But it’s my hometown, and I feel like I owe it to the residents of… this city to elevate it in the consciousness of Filipinos. That’s why I chose this for this shoot. Look, if Anne Curtis brought Siquijor to relevance, I will do the same for my hometown!”
- “And I like that the city is great for… I don’t know, a conceptual theme, I guess. The flood control embankment near the Santa Maria River is giving ‘industrial chic meets flood resilience’ vibe. We’re Bula-can, not Bula-can’t.”
Food
- “Street food is, like, the heart of Bulacan. I so love those orange-covered quail eggs. But I’m trying to be vegan because I heard eating meat causes climate change, and we need to do our part to prevent floods. But vegan options are basically nonexistent here, so I just go to SM Marilao and order a vanilla frappe in Starbucks. That’s vegan, right? It doesn’t have any meat or eggs!”
Skylar Jade is portrayed by a very patient model who humored my ridiculous ideas. Don’t hate her—blame the corrupt officials instead!
The Tourist Gaze 