invicta5

[cosmic stone]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[polar grove]

« très » can be translated as "very"
« bien » can be translated as "well" (more naturally, "quite", in this specific case)

(disclaimer: i am not a native french speaker so you might get a better answer still)

Both are neutral I believe.

c'est bien sucré = it's quite sweet
c'est très sucré = it's very sweet
c'est trop sucré = it's too sweet

[odd zenith]

C'est ça. C'est bien sucré-> il y a assez de sucre. C'est très sucré -> ça dépasse la limite. C'est trop sucré c'est immangeable

[stark vapor]

I want to tack on because while the reading of "C'est bien sucré" as it being well sweetened is correct, it's actually not the one I had in mind and from the words you used your question, what I interpreted was the exagerated ironic use of bien. The example of bien sucré is very dependant on tone because something can actually be well sweetened, but if you say for example "Il est bien con" or "Le vélo est bien rouillé", "ta chemise est bien salie" then "bien" is synonymous with "très". For me the example with the gateau works as well but you need to stress "bien" to convey that you aren't using the straightforward meaning

In terms of politeness it's a little delicate, using bien in this way is definitely informal, but using très in my examples is too "structured". Like saying "The bike chain is very rusty". Then again it's hard to think of formal ways to structure informal sentences.

Between très and bien, I don't think either has a worse connotation than the other, très would be the formal-ish one and bien informal. Thinking about it it feels like both have negative connotations. In the example of the cake. Say your coworker brought a cake to work, and you want to let them know it's too sweet, you would (counter-intuitively, or I guess in the same way as "bien") say "Ce gâteau est assez sucré" to mean "This cake is quite sweet"

[tired sluice]

I understand @stark vapor . Your eg 'il est bien con' makes sense.
I want to conclude as below. :

So 'bien' can have a positive or negative connotation depending on the tone.

Let's say we're discussing the form of athletes, in that case it would be better to say :
She is well muscled = elle est bien musclée -- better
She is very muscled = elle est très musclée

Another Eg :
Elle est bien énervée -- use either
Elle est très énervée -- use either

Makes sense? Please let me know if you don't agree.
I'm trying to simplify this.

[stark vapor]

Yes I think that's pretty much it. I would like to add something: It's kind of hard to explain, but the usage of "bien" instead of "très" in most contexts, feels to me as degrading, like you're leaving the descriptive side of using "très" and going into a critique. "Elle est très énervée" is like you're letting someone know that she's mad, but "Elle est bien énervée" is you inviting the other person to view her anger as unjustified and illegitimate.

This is how it feels to me at least