If you took Russian — or any language, for that matter — you probably eventually arrived at a point when your teacher encouraged you to use words other than хороший (good) to praise things. Hopefully, you started using замечательный, чудесный (both mean wonderful),  восхитительный (delightful), великолепный (magnificent), прекрасный (great, beautiful), отменный (select, top-notch), отличный (excellent) and many, many others. However, if you only encountered these perfectly literary adjectives, some of the newer compliments may leave you confused. Let us look at the phrases that are more colloquial and less obvious.

1. позитивный

Позитивный looks like it is an international synonym of the Russian word положительный (positive) — and in many senses of the word, it is. It sounds much more natural to say положительные изменения (positive changes) or положительный результат (positive result) than the same phrases with позитивный. However, позитивный has the additional meaning of “upbeat,” “feel-good” when describing an attitude, ambiance, or personality.

* an inspiring coach

2. модный

Модный comes from мода (fashion), so it can refer to clothes quite literally — модный костюм (fashionable suit), etc. It may also refer to anything en vogue, hip, or trendy. The implication often is that it is popular for now but won’t last.

* trendy creative skills

3. вкусный

You would probably expect вкусный (tasty) to refer to food. This is, indeed, its primary function. There is also a slang usage meaning “fresh,” “compelling,” “enjoyable.” Mind that many people will find this usage annoying. It is certainly not universally accepted.

An example I saw on a web design blog is “вкусные приемы в веб-дизайне” (clever web design techniques).

4. креативный

Once again, we have a word that looks like its English equivalent – creative. However, the Russian word has a much narrower range of applications. If you are talking about the creative process or creative occupations, you will probably use the word творческий — творческие профессии, творческое решение. The word креативный emphasizes the meaning of “inventive,” “resourceful,” “innovative.” You could say that творческий talks about the process, and креативный evaluates the result.

* creative branding (as you could tell)

Moreover, креативный refers specifically to the newly introduced occupations in Russia, such as a copywriter, designer, or marketer. It denotes creativity in a commercial or business setting. In the recent years, “креативный класс” has been used, sometimes in a derogatory way, to refer to the relatively well-off, educated, young office workers who have been active in political protests in Russia.

5. продвинутый

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a good equivalent for the English word “advanced.” Sometimes it can be captured by “углубленный”  (advanced English studies could be called углубленное изучение английского языка) or “высокого уровня.” Absent a succinct term, the word “продвинутый” is often used to stand in for advanced in Russian texts. The problem with продвинутый is that it is a colloquialism, as marked by Russian dictionaries. In other words, you could see the word “advanced” in an academic journal, but you cannot see “продвинутый” in any official text.

Продвинутый often refers to a tech savvy person or a person marching with the times in some other respect.

* moms in Italy are all sophisticated

I hope this was useful and will help you with the colloquial expressions in Russian. The examples come from gorod.afisha.ru.