Hi cholo:

su cara brilla demasiado

coma

I know that adding demasiado gives the sentence a negative aspect, but isn't "su cara brilla" usually a positive thing? As in "Her face shines when she sees her baby."

Although "Her face shines" is a very positive thing, "shiny" in reference to a face is always negative, indicating that the face is excessively oily. Is there another way to express this idea'

brilla demasiado o tiene demasiados brillos

look:

<http://es.answers.yahoo.com/question/index'qid=20060915220828AACTZM5>

OK, thanks.

Useless trivia: A very common household product in the US is the Brillo Pad, but Americans who don't know Spanish probably don't realize the meaning, or at best think it is a variation on brilliant. Brillo is pronounced to rhyme with drill-o.

This is another example that too, it's too in spanish, as I said in the post "so and too, diferences".
Su cara brilla - is normal- demasiado- sounds not natural or as James said denote a negative aspec, not only her face, but the phrase structure.

So how would you say this in Spanish, Vernic'

Maybe this is just in Colombia, but you could easily say:

1. Le brilla demasiado la cara.
2. Le brilla mucho la cara.
3. Me parece que le brilla mucho la cara.
4. Me parece que le brilla demasiado la cara.

Honestly, I´ve noticed that the most important part of conveying your message is actually the tone you. The way you say it makes more difference than the exact wording. (This is very typical in Spanish, I would say moreso than in English)

James, creo que mi reply tardó "demasiado" en entrar, estoy de acuerdo con su primera intervención.
Me parece suficiente decir: Su cara brilla, su cara se ilumina, sus ojos son grandes; Agregar "demasiado", tiene una connotación no muy amable, o hasta negativa, aunque en algunos casos no deja de ser correcto, como al decir "Tengo demasiado trabajo" y sea también muy común.

Heidi, eso es correcto, pero estoy de acuerdo con James en que decir demasiado, tiene un dejo de desaprobación. A diferencia de decir "brilla mucho/ tiene muchos brillos" que suena descriptivo.

I would say: "su cara su ilumina cuando ve a su hijo/a"

And I would avoid: "su cara brilla"

We say "sus ojos/su mirada brilla/n" but the "su cara brilla" without "too" sounds confusing.

Given the context of the question, I agree with heidita.
Too in this case would be demasiado and yes it does have a negative meaning.

Hi James
We have the same thing here. They certainly do add a shine to metal items albeit being slightly abrasive.